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City approves police spending

Four new cars planned for QPD

Chuck Allen/editor@qvpr.com
Jan. 19, 2012

The Quincy Police Department received a bundle of new things from the Quincy City Council during its meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 17.

The council authorized the purchase of four new police cars, spending $10,000 to help convert the old library building into an annex for the police station, the hiring of a temporary police clerk and a benefits package for reserve police officers.

The council approved police chief Richard Ackerman’s request to purchase four new Dodge Chargers for the department at an expense not to exceed $59,854.35 each. Ackerman initially requested the four cars when he submitted a budget for the department last fall. The council turned down his request and approved the purchase of one new vehicle. Ackerman then asked the council to consider leasing the four new cars, which would cost the city less upfront than purchasing the vehicles outright. After some discussion at previous meetings, the council agreed that if four new vehicles are needed, it would prefer to purchase the vehicles rather than pay the leasing and interest costs.

Ackerman told the council that the four new vehicles will replace four aging Ford Crown Victoria patrol cars that are in the department’s fleet. The oldest is 12 years old and has 100,000 miles on it. The two newest Fords in the best condition will still be used by the department, Ackerman said. He plans to take the light bars and markings off them and use one as a vehicle for his office workers and use another one for police volunteers.

With the four new cars, the department will not need to purchase a new vehicle next year and will then get on a rotation where it will replace a car or two every year after, he added.

The council also approved a request of $10,000 to help convert the old library into an annex building for the police department. The former library space would be used as a conference room, a men’s and women’s locker room and office space. The money would be used to clean up the old library space, for a new coat of paint and to purchase new office equipment and partitions.

Ackerman said the space would serve as a back office for the police department and nothing would change in the front office and lobby area where the public interacts with police employees.

Ackerman’s request to hire a temporary police clerk was also approved by the council. The clerk will help department comply with state standards when it comes to handling and storing evidence. A recent audit by the Washington Association of Sheriffs & Police Chiefs determined that it will take two department employees working 40 hours per week for four months to make all the changes needed to comply with state standards. The temporary police clerk will help free up time for one of the other clerks to work on the issue, Ackerman said.

The council also passed a resolution to enroll reserve officers working for the police department in the state’s Volunteer Firefighters’ and Reserve Officers’ Relief and Pension Plan. The city will cover all the costs of enrolling the officers in the program, which provides a pension, medical and disability and death benefits for vested officers. The benefits will cost the city about $265 a year per reserve officer.