Sept. 20. By Dave Vieser. Five new Ford F-150 Police vehicles will be purchased for the Cornelius Police at a total cost of $279,668, following unanimous approval by the Town Board. The new vehicles should arrive in October and will replace vehicles in the existing fleet, according to Chief David Baucom..

“We currently have about 53 fully equipped police vehicles in our fleet,” said Baucom. “Some are in the process of being surplussed so that number could vary slightly. Those vehicles are comprised of Ford SUVs, Ford F-150s, Dodge Chargers, and a Dodge Durango. The rest of our fleet are unmarked/administrative vehicles from several different manufacturers.”

Baucom said 17 percent of the fleet consists of unmarked vehicles, which are used for various tasks including speed limit and traffic enforcement.

The purchasing process:

In order to obtain the new vehicles, a bid request for five Police Responders was issued by the town, but when only one bid was received, a second was sent out, resulting in a qualified response from Duval Ford of Jacksonville, Fla.

Baucom said their price was $47,000 per vehicle which is within the budgeted amount.

As for the specific police equipment, Dana’s Safety Supply will be upfitting the vehicles with the new center console, lights, sirens, and installation of the equipment. The additional equipment is included in the bid price and will amount to $7538 per vehicle, with the exception of the K-9 unit, for which the additional equipment will bring the vehicle equipment total to slightly over $12,000.

What happens to the older police vehicles?

Police vehicles take a heavy toll in their day to day use, so they are usually sold along with other surplus town property.