ASHLAND — Ashland police are getting new vehicles.
Emphasis on new — the three Dodge Durangos and one F-150 Responder are currently being built. Police Chief Dave Lay said he hopes the vehicles to be ready by the end of the year.
Ashland City Council unanimously approved the roughly $285,000 purchase during its Tuesday special meeting.
“So it’s not inexpensive, but I think we’re getting four good vehicles for that price. It helps us keep our fleet up to date,” said Ashland Mayor Matt Miller.
Lay said the division will coordinate with the outfitting company to order equipment so it arrives around the same time the vehicles do.
The new vehicles will replace three 2027 Ford Explorers, Lay said. Each of them have around 85,000 miles on them. The equipment in them will be salvaged and re-used in the new Durangos.
“We’ll use the radars, siren boxes, radios — that sort of thing,” he said.
The fourth vehicle being replaced is the chief’s 2014 Dodge Charger. Instead of it being part of the active fleet, Lay said it will be transitioned into a community engagement vehicle.
“It’ll go to parades and car shows. And it’s actually the oldest in the fleet with 84,000 miles on it. We’re hoping transitioning it to community engagement will increase its longevity,” Lay said.
The police division currently has two Ford pickup trucks. They are shared between all lieutenants and sergeants.
“Currently, we have four sergeants running one truck. So it’s being used 24/7. We got it not long ago and it already has 43,000 miles on it,” Lay said.
The chief said the additional truck will be used by two sergeants instead of four.