Chief Says He Needs 32 New Cars

At the end of an hour-long discussion with the city’s Finance Committee earlier this week about how the Santa Fe Police Department may need to cut as much as nearly $2 million from its budget in the upcoming fiscal year, Police Chief Aric Wheeler threw out what one city councilor referred to as a “doozy.”
    Wheeler needs almost $700,000 to buy 32 new vehicles. Now.
    Wheeler told the Committee the Police Department is “in a crisis right now for cars.”
    Over 15 percent of the police fleet has at least 100,000 miles, according to officials. Wheeler didn’t say it, but that’s due in no small part to a city policy that allows officers to commute to and from work in their “company” cars. Officers put over 1.3 commuter million miles on their vehicles last year alone, according to city numbers.
    Not helping matters is the “inordinate number” of police cars involved in crashes over the last several months, according to Lt. Gillian Alessio.
    Alessio told the Finance Committee these factors have “coalesced into the perfect storm” for the department’s fleet.
    ”At this point, our vehicles are failing so quickly, we are at a critical needs issue,” she said.
    Money for the new cars has been budgeted, but, because of the high cost, Wheeler and his staff need permission from the City Council before they can actually make the purchase. For unexplained reasons, they weren’t able to get a formal request to the City Council in time to meet a manufacturer’s deadline for next week.
    Wheeler asked Finance Committee members to consider letting City Manager Robert Romero sign an emergency order allowing the purchase, but councilors didn’t appear amenable to that idea.
    So it’s looking like police will have to make do with the old cars for now. Alessio said the next order deadline is September.