CALIFORNIA CITY, Calif. (KERO) — California City's police experiences morale boost with five new SUVs donated by two local solar companies.
- Justin Vincent, Cal City's director of public safety, chooses to paint mountains and an American flag on the new vehicles.
- The Cal City Police Department will be getting a new Polaris off-road vehicle in the coming months.
- The 5 new SUVs have 4-wheel drive. Before, Cal City's police did not have any cars with 4-wheel drive.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
When it comes to vehicles for the Cal City Police Department, it's out with the old and in with the new. I'm Steve Virgen, your neighborhood reporter. Thanks to two local solar companies, 5 new SUVs have come to the Cal City police.
“There’s no wondering: ‘Is that CHP? Is that another agency?’ You know it’s California City when you see these new cars roll in.”
That’s Justin Vincent, Cal City’s director of public safety explaining to me the police department's new cars that have noticeable wraps. He chose to have mountains painted on with an American flag as a reflection of the city.
“When you look around you see the patriotism in this community being so close to the base. And you see the flag emblazoned on the side of our vehicles. You’re seeing California City in big letters on all sides of the vehicle. The beautiful mountain ranges that surround us,” Vincent says.
Vincent tells me the new cars were donated by two local solar companies, AES and Kudu. For a city that has financial issues the donations were welcomed for savings.
“Between police and fire with the amount of vehicles that we’re receiving from both through the solar projects it’s in the multi millions over $3 million in savings to our city’s general fund by the public and private partnerships and working with our solar developers to find solutions for their issues and access issues as well as solutions for our community and our tight budget and our ability to effectively protect the solar fields as well as the rest of the community,” said Vincent.
Vincent says the new cars are 4 wheel drive, whereas previously they did not have any.
“It means everything to the department. It’s a big morale boost as well as operationally. It makes us more efficient, more effective. We had so many cars that were broken down, were barely running, just trying to get by. And so for officers to have these new vehicles that are reliable, they’re comfortable, they’re custom spec’d to make sure it meets the needs of California City. It’s just an incredible opportunity,” Vincent says.
The Cal City Police Department will be getting a new Polaris off road vehicle in the coming months. I'm Steve Virgen, your neighborhood reporter.
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