City Approves Purchase of 10 New Police Vehicles

The Gaithersburg City Council Monday night unanimously approved the purchase of 10 new police cruisers for a price of slightly more than $23,000 each.

As part of the consent agenda, the full council voted to approved the purchase, which totaled $232,940.

The cruisers, Dodge Chargers, will replace 10 vehicles that have reached the "end of their useful service life," according to a staff report.

According to the Dodge website, manufacturer suggested retail price for a base-level 2012 Charger is $25,495.

The vehicles will be purchased as part of the State of Maryland Statewide Contract and come from Gaithersburg-based .

The purchase, according to City Manager Angel Jones, is part of the city's overall fleet enhancement strategy.

"There's a need for updating our fleet," she said. "It's one of the things we really put on hold considering the fiscal climate that we're in. We've tried to maximize all of our vehicles within the organization. But due to the fact that we're about to embark on new technology related to Entergov, we need to retrofit some of those vehicles with new equipment."

The 10 new vehicles will be retrofitted with Energov technology, which willl cost an additional $8,000 per vehicle, Jones said.

The old vehicles will either be repurposed or sold at public auction.