Last fall the city purchased two police vehicles. Both of these vehicles were replacements for two other vehicles that were no longer capable of utilizing to maintain a decent level of public safety. The city has received a great amount of criticism for the purchase of these vehicles. I would like to point out a few things.
The Ford Explorer has a smaller engine than the Crown Victoria and costs less to fuel. It gets a lot better gas mileage. The average daily operating cost for the Explorer is $6.42 while the cost of operating the Crown Vic is $11.47.
I would also like to point out that prior to the city owning a 4 WD capable vehicle (several years ago) the Police Department would shut down during bad weather, unless it was a life threatening emergency. We are now able to maintain an ongoing level of patrol.
The Ford Explorer was used a lot during the recent ice storm. We were able to transport quite a number of people to and from the warming shelter.
Almost all cities our size in the State of Missouri maintain a minimum of two police vehicles.
I worked for the small town of Stover in 1997. They maintained 4 full time officers and 2 police vehicles. Stover has a population of 968 and is .87 square miles. We have almost 2,000 people and have 1.40 square miles (which is about to increase with annexation). If you look at other small towns across the state and compare them to Bloomfield you will see what I am talking about.
The Ford Explorer has a smaller engine than the Crown Victoria and costs less to fuel. It gets a lot better gas mileage. The average daily operating cost for the Explorer is $6.42 while the cost of operating the Crown Vic is $11.47.
I would also like to point out that prior to the city owning a 4 WD capable vehicle (several years ago) the Police Department would shut down during bad weather, unless it was a life threatening emergency. We are now able to maintain an ongoing level of patrol.
The Ford Explorer was used a lot during the recent ice storm. We were able to transport quite a number of people to and from the warming shelter.
Almost all cities our size in the State of Missouri maintain a minimum of two police vehicles.
I worked for the small town of Stover in 1997. They maintained 4 full time officers and 2 police vehicles. Stover has a population of 968 and is .87 square miles. We have almost 2,000 people and have 1.40 square miles (which is about to increase with annexation). If you look at other small towns across the state and compare them to Bloomfield you will see what I am talking about.
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