This week Plymouth Police Chief Dave Bacon asked members of the Board of Public Works and Safety for permission to seek quotes for two new squad cars. The chief said the vehicles are in his 2022 budget.
Prior to giving approval, Board of Works member Jeff Houin asked if the chief had looked into adding electric or hybrid vehicles into the fleet.
Chief Bacon said, “I spoke to the chief in Bremen, they purchased a vehicle a couple years ago. They’d had some problems with them. He said repairs can be costly if they aren’t still under warranty.” The chief went on to say, “Our mechanics aren’t qualified to work on those so everything would be going where we got them from.” Currently the mechanics at the Street Department do a lot of our repair work.
The Board of Work unanimously approved his request to seek quotes.
Police Chief Bacon had a second request for the Board of Works. He sought approval to apply for an Indiana Department of Homeland Security grant for body cameras. He said he budgeted funds last year to purchase the cameras and a purchase order was completed before the end of the year for the funds.
The grant is a 50/50 grant.
Chief Bacon said the cameras they are looking at are $500 each. He is purchasing 21 cameras for $10,500. If awarded the grant will partially reimburse that the Plymouth Police Department has already spent. Chief Bacon noted that he used money from the Cum Cap Development fund for the body camera purchases.
