Aurora spending $1.6M on police, other vehicles
By Stephanie Lulay slulay@stmedianetwork.com March 6, 2013 9:38AM
Aurora will spend $1.6 million to buy 21 new vehicles for the Police Department and 20 more vehicles for other departments this year. The new police vehicles will be Ford SUVs. | Submitted
Updated: April 8, 2013 7:22AM
AURORA — The city’s newest fleet of cop cars won’t be cars at all — they’ll be SUVs.
The City Council has authorized the purchase of 41 new city vehicles for $1.6 million under the Illinois Joint Purchasing Act. In addition to 21 new police vehicles, the city is also replacing other fire and street maintenance vehicles under the purchase.
Big-ticket items include a new fire engine for $406,000; a new ambulance for $205,000; 14 new marked police squad cars for $414,000; six unmarked police cars for $87,000; a 15-yard dump truck for $309,000; a 5-yard dump truck for $269,999; and a sewer vehicle for the city’s Water and Sewer Maintenance Department for $305,000.
Twenty of those 41 vehicles will be replacement police squad cars or unmarked police cars, and the city also will purchase a replacement police van.
The city will be replacing existing Ford Crown Victoria squad cars, a model that was discontinued in 2011, with Ford SUVs similar to the Explorer model, said Joe Hopp, city superintendent of maintenance services. The city compared the Ford SUV purchase to another police replacement model, the Chevrolet Caprice, but police officers preferred the increased visibility in the SUV model, he said.
Under the purchase, the city will also buy an Aurora Animal Control van, and two additional vehicles, an SUV and Ford Focus, to be used by the Fire Department.
