The City of Chehalis has snapped up four used law enforcement vehicles for its local police department as it expands the fleet in hopes of implementing a personal car program.
The Chehalis City Council voted on Monday evening to approve a funding request to finish outfitting four Chevy Tahoe SUVs for use as Chehalis Police Department patrol vehicles.
The vehicles were sold as surplus by the Tumwater Police Department.
One vehicle will replace a previous patrol vehicle that was deemed too costly to repair earlier in the year. The others will expand the local law enforcement agency’s fleet by three and allow the department to assign vehicles to individual officers.
According to Chehalis Police Chief Randy Kaut, the department previously received approval from City Manager Stacy Denham to purchase the four vehicles for roughly $45,000 using available funds in the city’s vehicle budget.
The Monday evening request for $72,000 was to fund additional equipment for outfitting the four vehicles to make them ready for patrol. That comes out to roughly $18,000 per vehicle, although neither Kaut nor the budget specified if all of the vehicles had the same needs.
The vehicles came partially outfitted, according to Kaut, but still needed additional equipment including a mobile radio, laptops, radar, restraint devices, “tire deflation devices” and “less lethal 40mm launchers.”
Kaut described the vehicles as “too much of a deal to pass up.”
“I got permission from the city manager to use the remaining funds in my vehicle fund to get those four vehicles,” Kaut told the city council. “Unfortunately, that depleted the funds, and now I have four vehicles, but I don't have the equipment to get them road worthy.”
According to the funding request on the council agenda, the vehicles had between 44,000 and 69,000 miles on them when purchased.
In response to a question from the council, Kaut added that some of the internal equipment from a retired patrol vehicle would be used in the new vehicles, but wouldn’t cover all of the department's needs.
According to Kaut, the additional vehicles will allow the department to implement a personal car program, which allows officers who live within a certain distance of the department to take their patrol vehicles home with them.
Kaut said in a statement to The Chronicle that the program is generally seen as a draw when recruiting, especially when competing with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office and the Centralia Police Department for new officers. Both of the other nearby law enforcement agencies have personal vehicle programs, he said.
Kaut also said the program is generally considered better for the long-term maintenance of the vehicles, giving officers a direct stake in the maintenance and care of the vehicle.
“Under the personal car program, officers who live within a certain distance of the city are assigned a car that is strictly theirs,” Kaut said. “Based on studies in similar programs, this usually results in better care for the vehicles since they have a personal stake in maintaining them and is a draw for people interested in working for our department.”
According to Kaut, the department has previously run its patrol vehicles virtually 24/7 until they were replaced. When one officer came off of a shift, another would get in the car for the next shift.
The additional police vehicles come after the city also recently purchased more vehicles for its fire department.
The Chehalis City Council earlier this month approved a request from Chehalis Fire Chief Adam Fulbright to purchase three used vehicles for the Chehalis Fire Department to include a water truck, an ambulance and a structural fire engine.
The request stipulated that the cost to purchase the three vehicles, including any outfitting or travel, would not exceed $570,000. The council also agreed to purchase the engines outright without financing at the urging of Denham.
The reasoning for the purchase was to better serve the expanded city limits after the recent annexation of property south of the city.
