Medina votes to buy new police car after one totaled on March 6
MEDINA – The Village Board voted to spend about $40,000 to buy a new police vehicle on Monday, less than a month after a police car was totaled.
An officer was driving a 2017 Ford Explorer on March 6 when the vehicle slid on an icy street and hit a tree.
The village’s insurance company is paying $20,550 towards the wrecked vehicle. Medina will use that money plus pay an additional $18,863 to buy a new 2019 Ford Explorer.
The village will also have to spend about $6,300 in other changeover costs, putting in a cage and electronics.
Police Chief Chad Kenward said there aren’t many police vehicles on the market. The 2020 police cars won’t be ready until November, at the soonest. There were only two new vehicles he could find that could soon be ready for the Police Department.
Besides the Ford Explorer which is in Easton, Pa., Kenward said there is a pickup truck in Niagara Falls that could be used for police.
That vehicle was $300 more than the Explorer. However, Kenward said no other police agencies in the county use the pickup truck. He has pushed for continuity in the Medina PD’s equipment.
“I really don’t want to be the guinea pig,” he said about trying a “police truck.”
