The Stockbridge City Council has approved spending $2.4 million to buy 60 vehicles for its newly formed police department.
The Henry County community is ordering five 2022 Chevrolet Tahoes, four 2021 Ford F-150 police responders and 51 new Ford gas-powered and hybrid cruisers. Just over half of the cars will be delivered from Brannen Motor Company at the end of the month with the rest coming from the dealership in January.
“We’re requesting to purchase those vehicles under an emergency purchase exception,” the department’s police chief Frank Trammer said. “And the reason for that is everybody knows there is a supply shortage of police vehicles and there are only a few dealerships that deal in sufficient quantities such that they have these vehicles readily available.”
Law enforcement agencies around the metro area and nation have struggled to get police vehicles because of shortages of computer chips used in the cars and a global supply chain interruption.
Stockbridge Pro Tem Mayor Elton Alexander praised Trammer for finding vehicles so quickly when others are waiting months to get them.
“You’ve been able to locate through your network all the vehicles we need to start our police department,” he said. “That’s simply amazing.”
About the Author
