In an effort to keep vehicles out of the shop and further the “take home a car” program, Troy City Council recently approved the purchase of four Ford SUV vehicles by the Troy Police Department.

The council awarded bids to Ken Cox Ford for the purchase of the four vehicles at $32,559.46 apiece. Troy Police Chief Jimmy Ennis said he would first like to thank the city council for not only approving the bids, but also furthering the department’s efforts to ensure every officer is able to take home a car.

“Ever since Chief (Grady) Reeves was the chief, he implemented the take-home car program, and I think that’s been extremely important for not only the police department but also for the citizens,” Ennis said. “When you have an officer living in your neighborhood, it looks good and I believe it is a potential deterrent to crime. When someone sees a police vehicle sitting in a neighborhood, they are less likely to do something they shouldn’t. We’re blessed that the city has continued to allow us to do this program. We hope it continues for many, many years.”

Ennis said that having newer cars also helps prevent additional wear and tear on the vehicles.

“Obviously, with newer cars your going to get better performance, once these cars go over 100,000 your repair bills tend to go up,” Ennis said. “We have been very fortunate here in Troy that Mayor Reeves and the City Council see the need to replace these older vehicles with newer ones. It certainly helps that we don’t have to worry about vehicles being in the shop. We just replace a few every year as we go. I think these vehicles that we’re getting will be very beneficial. If there is bad weather an all-wheel drive vehicle performs much better. We can never predict when we might need that. It’s not frequent, but when it does happen it’s better to have it and not need it then need it and not have it.”

Reeves said when the program was implemented it helped not only the police department cut costs and potentially save on repairs, it also served as a crime deterrent.

“The visibility of officers is key,” Reeves said. “Having an officer in the neighborhoods is great. When we need to bring a lot of resources to bare on something having all those individual cars is important. As time goes by you end up having less cost. You do better on repairs and replacements times. It’s worked well over the years. I’m glad that it has worked well.”

Reeves said he hopes the program can continue.

“Hopefully we can continue to do it this way,” Reeves said. “They are very confident of what we have on the road is workable and in good shape. For the most part the men take care of the vehicles they are given, and that’s important to the taxpayers. And, as the men take these cars home the visibility in the neighborhoods means a lot.”