Kauai police to get new patrol cars under 5-year lease plan

LIHUE, Hawaii (AP) - The Kauai Police Department is getting new patrol cars after the County Council agreed to spend $890,000 over five years to acquire new Ford Explorers.

The council approved police Chief Darryl Perry’s request for the vehicles in a unanimous vote last week. The council will spend $178,000 a year as part of the five-year lease-to-own agreement, and the money will come from an account designated for leased vehicles, The Garden Island reported (https://bit.ly/2qoMQ28 ).

The department is now in its second year of a three-year vehicle replacement plan, which aims to purchase 15 police cars a year. Each vehicle costs between $50,000 and $55,000.

Assistant Police Chief Robert Gausepohl said the new vehicles will help ensure officers are able to respond to emergency situations safely.

He expects officers to be able to get use out of the vehicles for at least seven years.

“Some vehicles are better built than others, and we have vehicles that are used much more than others, depending on what geographical areas they’re assigned to,” Gausepohl said. “The outside stations, they put way more miles on their cars.”

During Wednesday’s meeting, Councilman Ross Kagawa said he wanted the police department to justify its need for the new vehicles because the county is “coming up at hard times” financially.

“We want to do the service, but we’re not going to give you unlimited funds,” Kagawa said. “We’ll give you what you need to survive, just like everybody else. I just want to make sure we’re not using more than we need.”

Gausepohl tried to assure councilors that the department is “trying to be as fiscally responsible as we can be.” He said the department will re-evaluate its need for additional cars after the completion of the three-year vehicle replacement program.

The department will also salvage parts from the cars that are being replaced and use them on other cars where necessary, Gausepohl said.

“We’re saving a tremendous amount of money by doing that,” he said.

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Information from: The Garden Island, https://thegardenisland.com/