WILTON — Wilton Police Chief Ethan Kyes had his proposal to purchase a new police rated Ford Explorer for $43,490 as well as a used state police vehicle for $4,500 by the Wilton Select Board on Tuesday, Sept. 5. The proposal was drafted by Kyes and Sergeant Gerald Maccione in an effort to push for assigned police cruisers over pooled police cruisers.

In the proposal, Wilton Police Department stated that “implementation of assigned police cruisers, when coupled with defined policies, goals, and outcomes, have resulted in enhanced operational efficiency, increased officer morale, and long-term cost savings for many municipalities.”

Currently, Wilton PD has fours cruisers in its roster. The most recent cruiser, a 2022 Ford Explorer was purchased in March of 2022 and was not ready for service until March of this year, which led to some problems with the current condition of their other police cruisers.

“The reason why we’re in such an issue is because we ordered a cruiser in March of 2022,” Kyes told the Select Board. “We did not have it delivered until late September, early November, and then it took us another three to four months to get outfitted.

“So, that put us a year behind,” he added, “and it was probably around 80,000 [miles] that we put on the other cruisers that typically wouldn’t have that many miles on it.”

Kyes attributed the delay of the police cruiser to high market demand and supply chain issues. In their proposal, Wilton PD called the purchase “a rare opportunity” as it was marketed “a new ‘last year’s model’ cruiser at a substantially lower price of $37,224.” By comparison, a similar model was available for $45,811.

As a result, the high mileage of the older vehicles has impacted the six-year vehicle rotation plan. In their proposal, they state “under the six-year cruiser rotation plan, there is zero miles on the newest frontline cruiser, 40,000 miles on middle cruiser, and 100,000 on the oldest cruiser at the start of the fourth year.”

To combat this, the Wilton PD proposed the purchase of a new police rated Ford Explorer for $43,490 that they expect to be outfitted and ready for service by March of 2024, and the purchase of a used State Police vehicle for $4,500. According to Kyes, the vehicle was used for polygraph examiners and did not see the same type of use a normal police cruiser would experience.

The vehicle is a 2017 Ford Explorer with 140,000 miles. According to Kyes, along with the purchase, the vehicle will need an additional $2,752 for miscellaneous equipment, totally $7,252.

All together, $50,742.90 is expected to fund the proposal, which Kyes intends to use their capital improvement plan for, which is budgeted at $58,086.24.

In their proposal, they state “purchasing fewer vehicles more often, due to excessive wear and tear, is more expensive when factoring in purchasing cost divided by projected lifespan of the cruiser in miles and years. Authorizing this proposal would allow the Wilton Police Department the ability to purchase a used cruiser and spread-out mileage between six cruisers.”

Kyes stateed the goal of the plan is to double the life of a cruiser that is estimated at $45,000 and reduce engine hours. By not having the police cruisers running constantly, regular maintenance will be less frequent.

The use of the funds requested to be used from the capital improvement plan will not affect the purchase of a budgeted 2024 cruiser and the budget for such will remain in effect, he stated.

Kyes also added that if they wait, they will not see a new police cruiser until 2025. He also added that they would not be paying extra on their insurance for the two new vehicles until July of next year once they are purchase and added.

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