Aldermen, Board of

NASHUA POLICE DEPARTMENT NEW CRUISER PRESENTATION January 28, 2014 The Nashua Police Department gave a presentation on proposed new cruisers before the Board of Aldermen on Tuesday, January 28, 2014, at 6:45 p.m. in the Aldermanic Chamber. Members of the Board in Attendance: Alderman-at-Large David W. Deane, President Alderman-at-Large Brian S. McCarthy, Vice President Alderman-at-Large Jim Donchess Alderman-at-Large Daniel T. Moriarty Alderman-at-Large Diane Sheehan Alderman-at-Large Lori Wilshire Alderman Sean M. McGuinness Alderman Richard A. Dowd Alderman David Schoneman Alderwoman Pamela T. Brown Alderman Michael Soucy Alderman Paul M. Chasse, Jr. Alderman June M. Caron Alderwoman Mary Ann Melizzi-Golja Alderman Ken Siegel Also in Attendance: Police Chief Seusing President Deane Do you have any handouts? Chief Seusing The only handouts President Deane is that I do have another picture that was not included in the initial package. It’s a side view of the utility vehicle. I can certainly pass those out if anyone would like to see on. I also have the vehicle out back. There’s also a Ford sedan as well. President Deane Yes, I saw it. Okay, that’s the vehicle in question. Go ahead with whatever you want to present. Chief Seusing I think most of you know that for quite some time the Nashua Police Department has been using the Ford Crown Victoria’s for patrol vehicles. I think we have been using those vehicles since 1997. Over the last two years we notified that they were no longer going to be making those vehicles so we to look at other vehicles that were available to us as a police package and make a decision as to what vehicle we were going to purchase moving forward when the Crown Victoria’s were no longer available. The four vehicles that were available for us to analyze were the Ford Police Interceptor Utility Vehicle, the Chevy Capris, the Dodge Charger, and the Ford Police Interceptor Sedan. I believe everybody had received a copy of the package that we had put together previously. I am not going to read the entire document as I am sure you have had a chance to read it but what I’d like to do is summarize why we had picked the Ford Utility Vehicle as a vehicle that we think would best suit our needs. As I mentioned, we had to make a decision on which vehicle we needed to go to. When we analyzed all four vehicles, we had officers drive the vehicles and give us their feedback. When they looked at all four vehicles, amongst other things, they certainly looked at the handling of each vehicle, the performance, the visibility from inside the vehicle, the accessibility to both the prisoner transport area as well as the trunk area, the safety features of the vehicle, the reliability, and certainly, cost was NPD Presentation 2 January 28, 2014 something that we took into consideration. After we analyzed all four vehicles we had easily eliminated one vehicle from the list of four which was the Chevy Capris. The reason we had eliminated that vehicle was for one, it was the most expensive vehicle but the other important reason was because it did not offer some of the options that the other vehicles the cost less were available to us. The Chevy Capris was a vehicle that we actually took off the list pretty quickly which left us with three vehicles to look at. Again, those three vehicles were the Ford Interceptor Utility Vehicle, the Dodge Charger, and the Ford Interceptor Sedan. From the package that you had previously looked at, as everyone knows, the Ford Utility Vehicle is the vehicle, in our opinion, is the vehicle that we need to use moving forward. When we looked at that vehicle, obviously there was a cost difference between that vehicle and the other two vehicles which ranged from about $3,500 to $3,900 between the Dodge Charger and the Ford Interceptor Sedan. We looked at it and decided that for that extra money, between the $3,500 and the $3,900, what are we getting with the utility vehicle that we were not getting with the other vehicles. It came down to a variety of reasons but the main reasons between the utility vehicle and the other two vehicles really came down to the space within the vehicle. Both in terms of the trunk space and the prisoner space. Out of those two, the trunk space was probably the most concerning to us, especially with the Ford Sedan vehicle. Again, I have that vehicle out back if anybody wants to take a look at it. Sometimes it’s a little easier to understand by looking at it versus listening to me speak. The one thing that we quickly learned by looking at the Ford Sedan and the Dodge Charger was that the trunk space was much smaller than the Crown Victoria’s that we are currently using. It was significantly smaller than the trunk area that was offered in the utility vehicle. In fact, I think the utility vehicle had about three times as much cubic feet space available to us as the sedan vehicle did. The reason that the trunk space was so important to us is because each vehicle has a set of standard equipment that every vehicle has but in addition to that, our officers bring extra equipment with them such as riffles, less lethal weapons, cameras, etc. It was very clear to us that the trunk space in both of those sedan type vehicles could not hold all of our equipment. That was a big concern to us. The Ford Utility Vehicle, on the other hand, is able to house all of our equipment without any problems whatsoever. That was the main reason between the utility vehicle and those two sedan vehicles. We thought the utility vehicle was the vehicle that we needed to go to. The prisoner space in the vehicle was also a concern to us, especially in the Ford Sedan. The prisoner space area of that vehicle is extremely tight. You can probably fit an average sized person in there, un-handcuffed, without too much of a problem but even if you were to take an average sized person that’s handcuffed behind their back, like all of our prisoners are, and put them in the Ford Sedan vehicle, it’s very difficult. As you know, we arrest people in all shapes and sizes. Every year, we make about 4,500 arrests and I can tell you that many of those arrests are not cooperative and they do not want to get in the cruiser. Having a vehicle that is so tight it poses a safety issue for the prisoner and it also poses a safety issue for the police officer. The space available in the utility vehicle is much larger and we don’t have any concerns with the utility vehicle as we do with the other two sedan vehicles. Again, the main reason between the utility vehicle and the two sedan vehicles is really the space available to the officer, again in terms of the trunk space because we cannot carry all of our equipment, and the prisoner space. I’ll just touch on the trunk space again. The Crown Victoria’s that we currently have worked well for us but unfortunately, they are not going to make those vehicles anymore so we are forced to make another decision. When I look at these three vehicles left, the Ford Utility Vehicle is again, the vehicle that we are picking out of necessity. It’s not because of any other reason. The other two vehicles just do not suit our needs in any way and there’s no way that I am going to ask my officers to go on the street and handle the responsibilities that they are required to if I am unable to have the equipment with them that they should have when they handle these calls. I recently purchased out of forfeiture, about $60,000 worth of new ballistic shields that I am going to be able to put in every single police cruiser. These ballistic shields are going to offer the ballistic protection that my officers need on the street no matter what they encounter. Prior to that, they didn’t have that option. We only had several shields that typically were kept in the supervisor’s cars and I think we had a couple of other shields that were in sporadic vehicles throughout the city. Now we have shields that we can put in every single vehicle so when an officer goes to a call and many of the calls that we go to include people armed with guns, he’s not going to have to wait for another officer to show up with a shield. He has the equipment available to him immediately and that’s very important to me which is why having the space in the vehicle to carry all of this equipment, not just a shield, is critically important. The space in the vehicle is really the main reason why we need the utility vehicle. Certainly, there are some other reasons too. The utility NPD Presentation 3 January 28, 2014 vehicle is an all-wheel drive vehicle. We have not had an all-wheel vehicle in our fleet before and clearly, with some of the weather conditions that we have, driving our rear-wheel drive vehicles with snow tires on them limits our response time in many cases. Sometimes during our severe storms in the past, we have utilized some of our parking enforcement vehicles which are four-wheel drive and then there have been times in the past where we have actually used a pick-up truck with four-wheel drive to put on the road. We put our officers on the road in those vehicles in certain parts of the city during a major snowstorm so if we have to respond someplace, we can make sure that we are able to get there. Having the all-wheel drive availability in this vehicle is a very good option for us. The other thing that I want to note, and although I can’t put a dollar value on it, by having an all-wheel drive vehicle, we are going to be able to keep the same tire on that vehicle all year round. Right now, we have to put snow tires on our vehicles in the winter and then take them off in the spring. The folks who work in our garage with Brian Sojka, whose our Fleet Manager and I apologize for not introducing Brian to some of the new Board members and Karen Smith, our Business Manager. However, by having one tire on this vehicle, it’s going to eliminate our Fleet Maintenance Division from having to change snow tires twice a year. That just comes down to labor costs but certainly I think you can put some value on that. The other reason that this utility vehicle is much better than the other two sedans is that it offers very good visibility. The visibility in the two sedans is limited. The visibility in the utility vehicle is much better. The utility vehicle also comes with a rear camera and rear sensors and as noted in the paperwork, nearly 40% of our at-fault accidents by our officers are made backing up. I would venture to guess to say that with a rearview camera, it will likely see a reduction in accidents backing up. I think you could put a dollar figure on that. When I am looking to justify an additional $3,500 - $3,900 per vehicle and I look at all of these added benefits to the utility vehicle I think its money very well spent. You had also seen a recommendation from our Firearms Training Unit. We also use the utility vehicle in many of our training scenarios to see which vehicle actually is safer for our officers to use if we are rescuing an officer or a civilian. The Ford Utility Vehicle offers more space in the back seat if we need to rescue someone, the rear doors actually open closer to a 90 degree angle that allows our officers to get in and out of the back much easier. In speaking with other agencies, many other agencies are starting to go with these utility vehicles. When the Ford Sedans were first bought had a greater majority of the marketplace but over the last few years the shift has been towards the utility vehicles. I spoke with the Chief of the Londonderry Police Department, who recently changed his entire fleet over to these exact same vehicles, in large part, for the same reasons that I am talking about here. I do know that the Massachusetts State Police either have or are in the process of changing their complete fleet over to these types of vehicles, again for many of the same reasons that I am talking about. I just wanted to summarize why we think that vehicle is very important to us. It’s really out of necessity more than any other reason and if we didn’t have to change, we would have been happy with the Crown Victoria’s but unfortunately, we are forced to make a change just like we were in 1997 when we were driving the Chevy Capris’ and they stopped making those vehicles and that’s when we went to the Crown Victoria which we have been enjoyed for 15 or 16 years. But, those days are over for us. I do know that there are no other Crown Victoria’s available so our next purchase and I believe there are nine vehicles that we have on the Finance Agenda to be purchased. Again, it’s the Ford Utility Vehicle that we feel is the vehicle that we need. I would be happy to answer any questions. Alderman Sheehan I have a question about the vehicle itself. Right now, the stuff that is going to be in the back is in a sedan, and a trunk is locked and somebody can’t see what’s in there. I see that there is some tinting on these windows but is there going to be some sort of hard case so that people can’t actually see what’s inside? Chief Seusing I am not sure if we are going to be able to eliminate seeing in the vehicle completely. We have talked about getting some bins that we can actually store our equipment in. Certainly concealing it would be one of the reasons but the other reason would be so that’s easily accessible as opposed to just having all of the equipment piled back there. We don’t want the equipment to be visible as well which is why we have the NPD Presentation 4 January 28, 2014 tinting but if we are able to put it in some colored boxes that you can’t see through then it won’t be obvious what we have in the back. Alderman Sheehan The other thing I had brought up. I have a few articles where other communities have been buying these vehicles and I understand you are looking at buying these based on the New Hampshire. bid. Some other communities have done better with their bidding to the tune of $4,000 - $8,000 so I would ask that you check because two of the communities were Fairfield County and Eugene, OR. Fairfield County paid $106,960 for four of them so that was $8,000 less. One of them is apples to apples that I have compared before the outfitting and after the outfitting but just trying to give a consistency there. The other one, the same SUV’s were…they had bought 54 of them under an agreement over five years and so they locked the price for five years which I think is interesting if we are going to align with something that perhaps we look at price protection so we don’t see an increase. If they are doing it for other communities, I don’t see why they would not be able to do it for us as well. There’s a significant cost difference – it’s about $5,000 or $6,000 for a police fit-up package on top of...I was surprised to see that this year they had budgeted 30% at Ford to go with the SUV and 70% of agencies choose sedans and it was inverted so it’s actually still creeping up. I was surprised because we just haven’t seen them out much other than in Massachusetts who has an issue with texting and driving. There’s a real big fine and a bigger problem there as far as if you find somebody doing it. I don’t know how much of an issue that is but I know when I’m sitting up higher, I see people doing things in their car all the time that I find shocking. I see where that’s a value. The other concern that maybe you could speak to is the difference in handling between a SUV and high speeds where we have guard rails that are lower for cars, are you concerned with that? Chief Seusing I’m not. In years past, we had the Chevy Tahoes brought in which were four-wheel drive vehicles. They were not pursuit rated; they are very top heavy so those were very dangerous vehicles to drive in a pursuit fashion. They were top heavy and they could roll over very easily. These particular vehicles are a little lower to the ground, very stable and they are pursuit rated vehicles. In driving the vehicles, they feel very comfortable so we don’t have any concerns about those issues like we did in years past. I think they took those concerns into consideration when they made this particular vehicle. Alderman Sheehan I can send you these articles where you can see what the pricing was. These are pretty current. In Fairfield County, they paid $105,000. It was a base cost of $25,000 for the vehicle and $5,000 for the specialized police package. This was December 19, 2013. If they can get them to Connecticut I am thinking they can get them a little bit further. We are talking about a 15 – 20% increase by going to their bigger vehicle; we can get it back in the same budget but get you the bigger vehicle that seems to be a win-win. Chief Seusing We can certainly look at that. I am not sure how much our hands would be tied as far as going to a dealer that’s in CT. I don’t know how that would work logistically but we can look into that. Alderman McCarthy You had mentioned the all-wheel drive in the winter. Is there some reason why on the sedan we have to change tires and on the utility we wouldn’t? NPD Presentation 5 January 28, 2014 Chief Seusing We would not have to change the tires on the proposed new sedan. The tires would not have to be changed on either of the vehicles. Mayor Lozeau Chief, I pulled up the memo from finance when we bought them before and I don’t know that you’ll know this off the top of your head but when we bought the two that we bought last year, it was $27,500. I don’t know if it went up. We got it from the Greater Boston Police Council Contract so that might have something to do with it. I don’t think this included the full police package. $27,500 versus with the equipment at $34,460 – it might be worth looking at again but I see that this says four-wheel drive so that might be a difference as well. The one attached to the memo says four-wheel drive. President Deane Are they four-wheel drive or all-wheel drive? Chief Seusing They are all all-wheel drive. Mayor Lozeau I think we would all agree that if we can get them for less, we would all be happy. Alderman Dowd I just had a weekend trip to Rochester, NY, and the N.Y. State Troopers all have these on the highway. I think they are much easier to see because I think the lights sit up higher and it’s a bigger vehicle. Chief Seusing As I said, they appear to becoming more popular and I know we don’t see a lot right now and I think it’s because the Crown Victoria’s that have been on the road are probably at the end of their lifespan so I think over the next year or so, certainly, the Crown Victoria’s will be disappearing and the new vehicles will be showing up in different police departments. Mayor Lozeau I just wanted to thank the chief. They came in and they met with the SURF Committee and I asked them if they would come tonight because I thought that going from a car to a SUV that you would all want to know about it and understand it because when people start seeing those replacing our cars, they may have questions. I just wanted to make sure everybody was on the same page and it wasn’t just the Finance Committee that saw it. I appreciate you making the time to come in tonight to share that. I just sent around the booklet that you get from the dealer that shows the sedan and the utility vehicle so people can take a look at it tonight. President Deane This car issue has been going on for a while. We were fortunate last year when we found 14 Crown Victoria’s that were year-end models. At one point in town, we did purchase a Dodge that had engine issues. That’s not NPD Presentation 6 January 28, 2014 a good thing. The other thing from my talking with some people, especially about the Dodges is the sight issues in the back. On the highway you see the State Police driving them on the highway. Using one of those on the highway and using one in the intercity seems like two different areas where site distance is a concern because you don’t know in between parked cars – if you are on the highway and you are pulling a car over, you are not in between parked cars or near sidewalks. The Chevrolets, other than the price, it seems that a few years ago we had some significant issues with those. Brian Sojka We have had some issues with those as the mileage increases. President Deane I would like to thank everyone for coming in and going over this with Board. The discussion concluded at 7:15 p.m.