The Columbia Police Department will have several new officers on the road soon and will likely have two new vehicles within 60 days to help with its aging fleet.
The Columbia Board of Aldermen voted Tuesday night on the matters during discussions with Chief Mike Cooper during the Board meeting at City Hall.
“I need cars … I’m begging for cars,” Cooper told the Board. “What should have been done through the years is that there should have been a rotation policy on these cars where you get rid of them after so many miles or so many years and that hasn’t happened. Now we’ve got cars back there where some of them are 10 to 15 years old and some of them have 200,000 miles on them and we’re patching them and doing everything we can to keep them on the road.”
Cooper had some money remaining in his budget for the current fiscal year and said he had several options for the department.
“The state contract on a new car, a Dodge Charger, a 2018 with a big six cylinder engine, is $19,947,” he said. “With the light options and everything, the additional costs are about $4,280. “That would make it around $24,200 for the slick top.”
Mayor Justin McKenzie said he had called to verify state contract prices and installation costs for equipment. Ward 3 Alderman Anna Evans inquired about the old police equipment.
“What do we do with the lights and stuff that are on the dilapidated cars?” she asked.
“We reuse what we can,” Cooper said. “Most of those out there have been reused three or four times. We have some that leak. If you ever see a patrol car at night driving with a piece of duct tape over the light bar, it’s because the light bar got wet and the light stays on. It won’t go off until you turn the car off. It will come on as soon as you crank the car, so we have to put duct tape over it.”
McKenzie, a former CPD captain, also addressed the light bars with the Board.
“Another problem is that many of these light bars were made for specific cars,” he said. “When you have to cycle out, you have to buy another light bar or mounting brackets or whatever you might need for the new style vehicle.”
Cooper offered another option for the future patrol cars.
“My suggestion was doing away with the light bars anyhow,” he said. “These cars now are a lot narrower than the old Ford Crown Vics. You can put interior lights, they call them slick tops. Those lights could be put in something new and more than likely they will fit anything. Then you don’t have to drill holes in the cars.”
McKenzie said that the Mississippi Highway Patrol and Marion County Sheriff’s Office were currently trying the newer lighting systems.
Ward 2 Alderman Jason Stringer spoke about the CPD’s needs.
“A few weeks ago, I asked Mike (Cooper) about his biggest need and he said it was equipment,” he said. “This is proof right there.”
Evans responded.
“Sounds like we need to get a couple of vehicles,” she said.
Ward 4 Alderman Mike Smith inquired about the vehicle warranties. Cooper told him that the Dodge vehicles came with a 100,000 mile power train warranty.
Board members then asked Cooper what the department needed.
“My dream would be four cars,” he said. “I’d be tickled to death with two.”
Alderman-at-Large Edward Hough asked Cooper if the money was in his budget to purchase two vehicles.
“We have the money to purchase one outright,” Cooper said. “We would have to finance the second one.”
The Board then authorized Cooper to purchase one vehicle and bring the financing for another one to the Sept. 19 meeting. Both vehicles would be ordered before Oct. 1 and available within 60 days.
The Board also voted unanimously on several personnel issues, including to promote Seth Blackmon to step 3 patrolman, hire Dominique Magee as a part-time step 2 patrolman, hire Chris Bush as a full-time step 2 patrolman, hire Adam Kelly as a full-time step 3 patrolman and hire Brittany Yates as a part-time employee of the animal shelter.
The Board also took several actions regarding the Columbia Fire Department during the meeting, including appointing Chief Jeff McKenzie as a city representative to the 911 Board, hiring full-time certified firefighter Christian Reed and promoted Tyler Creel to captain of operations and training.
The Columbia Board of Aldermen next meets in regular session at 4 p.m. on Sept. 19 at City Hall. The Board also has a budget hearing set for Monday (Sept. 11) at 5:30 p.m. and meets at 5 p.m. Sept. 12 to adopt the budget.
