LRPD getting 36 new police cars

LITTLE ROCK, AR - Tuesday night, the Little Rock City Board of Directors approved spending more than $815,000 on thirty-six new Dodge Chargers for the Little Rock Police Department.

"I've seen the one they're putting together, and there's not another department in the country that is going to look as pretty as these things are. They're really sharp," says Roy Spann who is the commercial sales manager with Landers Chrysler Dodge Jeep.

Soon, it will be out with the old cruisers with the blue and green logos, and in with the new 2012 Dodge Chargers. More than $815,000 in sales tax revenue from the one-cent sales tax increase that went into effect January first in Little Rock will be used to pay for the thirty-six police cars.

"It's more expensive to repair the ones they've got out in the field now than it is to go ahead and purchase these," explained Spann.

Spann adds that the V8 hemi engine has an economic bonus for the city.

"With the V8s they're also saving money, gas fuel because it's a V8, it does cut back when they sit there idling," he says.

Spann is also pleased that the city went with a Little Rock business when it came to spending more than $815,000 on the new cars.

"It's also putting money from the city tax back into the city, so, you know, that's a win-win situation for us," says Spann.

Once the city orders the cars, it'll take four to six weeks for them to come in and another week for each one to get the decals and state-of-the-art equipment installed.

Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas told FOX16 Tuesday that the new LRPD car already sitting in the SW Little Rock substation parking lot will hits the streets for the first time at midnight Wednesday.

The new fleet isn't the only upgrade on the horizon for the Little Rock Police Department. A new 12th Street police station is in the works. And, the city is upgrading the police communications system.

Tuesday, the board of directors also approved buying two additional pieces of land on South Pine Street for the new police station on 12th Street. The land owner has agreed to tear down a metal building on the property that contains asbestos. Little Rock will buy the two lots for about $50,000.