New Duluth squad cars boast LED lights, updated equipment
February 7, 2012 at 6:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
Sleek, powerful, loaded with technology the Duluth Police Department’s new squad cars should make quite an impression as they start patrolling the streets as soon as next week.
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Sounds like a good price -not cheap but with all of the equipment plus the new car prices it sounds like a good deal
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More proof that it doesn’t matter how the economy is doing, the government spends and spends. Focus on getting your city working again, and fixing you budgets, then maybe the good citizens of Duluth will let you have some fancy new toys..This is terrible!
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Wah, wah, piss, moan, government, spending, liberals plblblblbthhhh.
Nevermind the fact that 15-20 % better gas mileage will save the city about $2500 a year per squad in gas. Or that it will better help them fight crime, while holding them to a high standard of professionalism with all the cameras.
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I’m going to disagree with Dorkus to an extent. First of all, $2,500 in gas savings doesn’t outweigh the $45,000 price tag. If you were getting a straight up trade, sure the argument works, but you aren’t, so it doesn’t.
Second, how will it better allow them to fight crime? Is it the brighter lights or the 90 degree opening doors that makes the cop better at his job?
And yes, cameras are nice, but they are nothing new. And while I’m know the Duluth Police is, for the most part, a quality force, Police around the country have made sure the dashcam video doesn’t get out when they’ve done something wrong…if this system makes that impossible then its worth it otherwise it just saves the cop 5 minutes a day.
Overall, its a good thing they have new cars, but let’s not pretend the Duluth Police force is all of the sudden a bunch of super cops.
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Dorkus – You lived up to your name with that one bud. Taking the high end of their usage estimate (20% fuel savings of 60,000 miles driven)= 12,000 miles “saved”. Divide by 25mpg for a V-6 Charger and you have a savings of 480 gallons of gas, maximum. 480 x $3.50 = $1680. So at most, 1 patrol car that patrols the Western end of the City (as Officer Wick said so himself) could POTENTIALLY save $1680 in fuel costs. The rest will save far less than that. Add in the $45,000 price tag and it’s not so great of a deal now, is it? It’s just like my wife going out and spending $1000 on new clothes and justifying it “because I saved 20%”. Wants vs. needs. Duluth is on the verge of bankruptcy and we’re buying new flashy toys. Our tax money hard at work.
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Tim, look up the word depreciation. Most companies, including government agencies, use it for vehicles, technology, because the stuff gets used and worn out. Those are built in costs for doing business. It has nothing to do with “fixing budgets” as you say.
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Tim Wreck said: “Focus on getting your city working again, and fixing you budgets, then maybe the good citizens of Duluth will let you have some fancy new toys..This is terrible!”
Riiiight. For now, Duluth should have 4 old, stripped down squad cars. One each for East End, Central hillside, West End and West Duluth. All other officers should be on foot or bicycle. Very affordable.
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Way to go over the top. I’m assuming the DPD has some sort of annual replacement policy – like 3 squads per year – to rotate through and update their stock. This would replace all 24 squad cars over an 8 year span. Did we need to buy 8 of these things right now? That’s my point. $360,000 is a lot of money and I realize they need to update their equipment but do we need to do it all at once? Duluth has a lot of debts to be paid, the taxpayers are stretched to the limit, and this appears to be a splurge of sorts.
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I agree with Dorkus (though I would have picked a less derogatory ID name), the better mileage, ability to re-use much of the gear and reduced maintenance costs of the aged Crown Vic’s is all good news. I’ve seen the unmarked ones around, including one that pulled someone over on upper Trinity road the other day. They blend it with other traffic really well — “Stealth Squad Cars”!
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Speaking of “stealth”, I was driving on 494 through Woodbury a few weeks ago and all of a sudden an F-150 that was behind me instantly lit up like a Christmas tree and went flying past me. They have an unmarked black F-150 rigged up with the “flat top” style w/ only concealed LED lights in the grill and on the bumpers, mirrors and windshield visor. SNEAKY!
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Great! These new cars will really help cut down on the college parties around UMD and St. Scholastica! That’s the real problem facing the DPD…right?!?
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I can’t even comment on bright lights…….. Duluth for sure.
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150 miles north of the United States is true.
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On a side note, looks like I’m going to have to find out if my legs actually fit in the backseat of these new bad boys. The old Crown Vic’s – not so much.
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I love to read the snide remarks posted on the DNT comment section.
Squads have to be replaced and most departments feel that replacing them regularly makes sense due to costly repairs incurred with older vehicles and equipment. I would imagine that Duluth exchanges a third of their patrol fleet a year as most cars will have well over 100k by the time they are cycled out. Due to the new style of squad, new equipment had to be purchased to fit inside a smaller cabin. Seat dividers are vehicle specific and center consoles have to be purchased to fit newer vehicles. Unfortunately manufacturers of the vehicle decide to discontinue or alter models that require new equipment. Most of the installed items in the Crown Vics has been torn out of old squads and placed in new ones since the last change in design. Ford is using a new platform, believe based off the 500 and Chevy is introducing a new Caprice. If you look at vehicle prices, Duluth did their best as the Charger is cheaper than both competitors.
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