In a time of tight budgets and worn-out fleets, the Sioux Falls Police Department will be donating three used patrol cars to small law enforcement agencies in need.
Sioux Falls City Councilors approved the donation last week. Law enforcement agencies in Faith, Freeman and Roberts County each will receive a car Oct. 4.
The gift is perfect timing, Freeman Police Chief Doris Higgins said.
"I tell you what, it's wonderful, especially when budgets are tight," she said.
Freeman's main police car is showing its age. The 1999 Ford Crown Victoria has 136,000 miles and an addiction to oil, Higgins said. It drinks a quart every other week, and there's a case of oil in the trunk just in case.
With a tight budget, Freeman had no options to replace the car that's on duty every day.
"We would probably be driving this one till it absolutely, absolutely died," Higgins said.
Sioux Falls first started the program in 2004. Since then, 16 patrol cars have been donated. The department typically keeps a patrol car about four years before it's replaced, typically picking up more than 100,000 miles in that time.
"Most of our cars are going 24 hours a day. The repair and maintenance just isn't worth it," Chief Doug Barthel said.
The department replaces about 15 patrol cars a year. Most of the old cars are auctioned and about three a year are donated.
While the city could get a couple of thousand dollars for the donated cars at auction, the gift is more valuable to smaller agencies that shop in Sioux Falls and help out the police department, Barthel said.
Before the Eagle Butte Police Department received a Sioux Fall patrol car in 2008, it didn't have enough cars for patrol officers.
"I was short on vehicles bad," Police Chief Norman Schuler said.
The 2008 donation remains in use and has been able to keep officers on the street, Schuler said.
"It's an excellent program. We really appreciated the car," he said.
Contact Megan Luther at 331-231
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