Warrensburg Police to Upgrade Two Vehicles

The Warrensburg City Council approved the purchase of two 2016 Dodge Chargers on Monday night for the Warrensburg Police Department.
The used vehicles will come from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, which is selling them for a total price of $33,950.

Chief Rich Lockhart explained the need for the upgrade.

“We've got two vehicles that have over 100,000 miles on them, and they've really become maintenance night mares for us this past year. So we've got two administrative vehicles in our fleet (SUVs) we'll be able to transfer equipment over, then we're buying two two-year-old vehicles from the Patrol at about $10,000 less than if we bought them new,” Lockhart explained, adding that most of the mileage on the Patrol vehicles are highway miles.

The 2014 vehicles can be sold at auction and should yield approximately $2,500 each, off-setting the purchase by $5,000. “Additionally, we save around $8,000 by not replacing the transmissions,” he told the Council.

In addition, Chief Lockhart noted the new speed limits that are posted on Highway 13.
“We extended the city limits past Hawthorne Drive and we didn't take action on the speed limit, so the limit was still 55 (All the way to Cooper), we didn't take action on the speed limit, so a couple of Council meetings ago, they extended the limit from 35 all the way out to the city limits,” Lockhard said.

“We put our speed trailer out there, and you can really notice the difference; the crossing at 13 and Hawthorne is a lot safer now,” he said, adding that the new signs have flashing lights on top of them. ​