Ten weeks after making one of the largest investments ever into new patrol cars, elected officials in Bartholomew County learned the final costs of placing the eight new vehicles on the road.
Besides an average of $25,176 to buy each basic vehicle, taxpayers will pay an additional $8,564 per vehicle on average to equip them with law enforcement items that include cages, light bars, radios, computers and mounts.
Three months ago, Maj. Chris Lane of the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Dept. said he anticipated an additional cost of about $8,000 per vehicle.
The Bartholomew County commissioners on Monday selected Waymire Fleet Equipment of Indianapolis to purchase and install the equipment.
Its bid was more than $7,000 less than the second lowest offer, submitted by John Jones Auto Group, a Salem-based dealership that was selected March 26 to supply the basic vehicles.
When the complete bid of $67,560 from Waymire is added to the purchase price for the basic vehicles, it raises the total investment for six new cars and two new sports utility vehicles to $268,964 — an average of $33,621 per vehicle.
Five of the eight vehicles (six Dodge Chargers and two Dodge Durangos) are still on order due to a Chrysler recall issued earlier this spring, sheriff’s Capt. Brandon Slate said. That means the department does not expect to take full possession until late this month, he said.
Although this will be the first time Waymire has been hired to purchase and install the equipment, the sheriff’s department has purchased a substantial number of items from the Indianapolis firm for in-house installations, Slate told the commissioners.
Waymire also does installation work for law enforcement agencies in Johnson and Marion counties, as well as in several communities in northern Indiana, Slate said.
Seven of the eight new vehicles will replace mostly Ford Crown Victorias that each have more than 150,000 miles, while one car will be assigned to a newly hired deputy, Slate said.
Much of the equipment installed in the old Fords is not compatible with the new Dodge models, Slate said. But any equipment that can be reused will be set aside for the next time new vehicles are purchased, Slate said.
Nearly a year ago, seven new cars or trucks for the sheriff’s department were purchased at a cost of about $180,000.
For nearly 20 years, the Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor was considered the most popular patrol car in the state, according to the Indiana Department of Administration.
But three years after Ford announced it would stop accepting orders for those types of cars from law enforcement agencies, the Dodge Charger Pursuit all-wheel-drive models became available to law enforcement customers in the spring of 2014.
