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Prior to last night’s Village Council approval for the purchase of two replacement police cruisers, Village Manager James Ten Hoeve revealed that annual expenses to fuel the Village’s fleet of motor vehicles now exceeds $500K.
Following a rather lively discussion about the feasibility of using hybrid vehicles as police cars, Council members did eventually approve the purchase of 2 new Ford LTD Crown Victoria Police Interceptor vehicles. This despite the presence of report showing the police package Crown Vic’s generally achieve about 6 miles per gallon of gas.
Mr. Ten Hoeve commented that the Village’s experience with using hybrid vehicles for our parking enforcement agents has been a good one. However, he envisions that there would be a problem using hybrids for police patrol work since light bars can’t be installed on them (a battery issue).
The Fly recalls that Mr. Ten Hoeve’s previous official vehicle was a hybrid; a Toyota Prius. When he wrecked that car in a head on accident in Hawthorne, he replaced it with a Dodge Durango SUV. So much for leading by example
