News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The White County Sheriff’s Department has purchased a new Ford Explorer vehicle for each of the county’s eight school resource officers.
Sheriff Steve Page said the purchase made with funds left over from the state’s SRO grant. Page said officers need reliable vehicles because they use them to check on and transport students on a regular basis.
“We were fortunate enough to get these newer vehicles so we can get rid of the old ones that need to be, you know, taken off the road ’cause they’re not safe,” Page said. “And just to represent the schools and to represent the sheriff’s department and the whole county, it just helps us out a lot in every way.”
Page said each vehicle cost between $30,000 and $40,000 after the additional striping and equipment installation costs. Page said the vehicles are not totally brand new, but are much safer than the ones they were using before.
“It’ll use the majority of it, other than their salaries,” Page said. “And that was the goal, was to use any excess money as we’re allowed to buy equipment for the SROs, and that’s exactly what we’ve done with it.”
Page said the new vehicles are also important for the SROs because they frequently have to perform extra duties supporting the rest of the department with various tasks.
“Lately we are quite a bit short-handed,” Page said. “And it’s just a big help all the way around.”
The sheriff’s department said the old vehicles had significant maintenance issues, with some being over fifteen years old and having more than two hundred thousand miles on them.
