Cape police get 19 new cars

The department ordered 20 as a result of the sales tax passed in June.

A noticeably new police fleet began cruising the streets of Cape Girardeau Thursday.

Sgt. Carl Eakins, a 32-year veteran of the force, took the wheel of his 2005 Ford Crown Victoria, the first of 20 new police cars purchased with money from a tax increase approved last year.

"It will be nice to have a new car," said Eakins, who had been driving a car purchased in 1996 that had 139,000 miles on it. "It is incentive to stay on a little longer."

Cape Girardeau police have received 19 of the 20 cars ordered through a state purchasing contract. Each car costs just under $20,000, Capt. Randy Roddy said. They are being purchased with revenue from a one-quarter cent sales tax city voters approved in June 2004. The approximately $2 million annually raised by the tax is split between fire and police based on needs, said fire chief Rick Ennis.

Most of the new cars still need to be fitted with lights and radios. Eakins's car is ready, but most won't be on the streets for a few days to a few weeks.

The new cars will look dramatically different from current police cruisers. They will have a prominent black stripe running the length of the car. The word "police" will be printed on the door in large black slanted letters backed by a sky blue shadow. Current cars have narrow red and navy blue stripes with the word "police" in small letters on the door.

Cape Girardeau police had been driving cars that were either part of the last batch of new cars bought in 1996 or used vehicles purchased from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Roddy said.

The new cars will go to officers who have cars with the highest mileage, he said. Seven of the cars will go into the pool of police cruisers used by any officers, and the remainder will be assigned to officers who take them home at the end of their shift.

The department prefers not to run cars much beyond 120,000 miles, Roddy said. The new cars will cut down on initial maintenance costs over highway patrol vehicles and last longer, he said. "We hope we don't have to buy any used cars from the highway patrol for a long time," Roddy said. "Our long-term outlook is to continue to buy new cars."

The retired cars may be recycled for use in other city departments, said C.T. Hendricks, fleet maintenance coordinator for the Cape Girardeau Public Works Department. Those that are not needed by other city agencies -- as well as those that aren't fit for use -- will be sold at a public auction on Sept. 17, he said.

The auction will include surplus property from all city departments.

The sales tax approved last year is having an impact on the fire department as well. Three new firefighters began working in April, two new pumper fire trucks will arrive this fall and a new ladder truck will arrive early in 2006, Ennis said.

The biggest project from the tax will be a new fire station to be built on North Sprigg Street near Blanchard Elementary School. That building will replace the 54-year-old Fire Station No. 3 on Emerald Street. The city hopes to take bids for construction next month, Ennis said, and break ground later this fall.

A third pumper truck was ordered with the two coming this fall, Ennis said, but delivery will be delayed until the new station is complete. The pumper truck would be too big to fit through the doors of the old station, he said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126