THUNDER BAY -- Council is giving the city police force a green light in helping to replace two cruisers lost to collisions.
At Monday night’s meeting council approved a request by police for nearly $88,000 from the Crime Prevention Reserve Funds to be used towards the purchase of two new marked vehicles.
Police Chief J.P. Levesque said the police board has slowed the cycle of replacing vehicles to meet budget constraints.
“Our fleet is depleted,” he told councillors. “It’s both a health and safety issue and a costly issue.”
From 1996 to 2011 city police had used the Ford Crown Victoria model for their fleet, at a cost of $30,000 each, allowing equipment to be transferred from retired vehicles to new ones.
However, that model was discontinued in 2012, making a change necessary. Police have adopted the Ford Explorer model, which comes at a base cost of $40,000, with an extra $10,000 cost to have the required equipment installed.
Coun. Rebecca Johnson took issue with the increased cost, forecasting problems in the future if it is not prepared for in future budgets.
“That budget is going to increase and I’m not happy about it,” she said. “Somebody better stop and figure out how we’re going to manage this on the same budget.”
The first collision occurred on the night of March 21 at the intersection of Victoria Avenue and Waterloo Street, where the officer was charged with running a red light.
The second collision happened just a few weeks later on April 10 at the nearby intersection of Arthur Street and Franklin Street.
Levesque said only about 50 per cent of the cost of the vehicles was recouped through insurance.
