Selma police department gets 10 new police cars, plans to ask city council to buy five more

Selma has purchased 10 new public safety vehicles, and the Police Department is asking the City Council Tuesday night for five more to get more police officers patrolling Selma’s streets.

The April purchase of 10 vehicles is on a 60-month lease at a cost of $250,000. The second round, if approved, will bump the total investment to $406,000, Mayor James Perkins Jr.  said in a press conference at Memorial Stadium’s parking lot on Tuesday afternoon.

“We want to share with the public where the money is going and that it is for public safety,” Perkins said.

Assistant Chief Natasha Fowlkes said the department is grateful to the council for approving the purchase of 10 new vehicles, and the department hopes they will OK getting five more so officers don’t have to share vehicles anymore.

The five new vehicles have been identified and can be purchased when the approval is given, Perkins said. In a City Council work session on May 23, Fowlkes said it takes six months to a year to get vehicles delivered.

The department has hired five new officers in the last two months, but the fleet is too low to give those officers vehicles for patrolling, Fowlkes said. They have also hired two evidence techs.

In the work session, Fowlkes said the department has 27 total vehicles. Many in the fleet are aging and need repair or are not in service. Because the fleet is short on vehicles, officers have had to double up in the operational cars, she added. About 11 officers have been without a vehicle, Fowlkes said.

The new patrol cars are safer, include all the technology needed, she said, and will be less of a drain on the maintenance budget than some of the older cars in the aging fleet.