West New York, NJ Gets New Police Cars From Project Fees

About two years ago, then-West New York, NJ Police Director Michael Indri came up with an idea about how the city could modernize its aging fleet of police vehicles without saddling taxpayers with additional costs. Many of the vehicles in the 26 car fleet had reached the end of their useful life, some exceeding 200,000 miles per vehicle -- hardly the best way for police to operate at their peak efficiency. What if the city charged a minor fee to private entities that needed a police presence to provide traffic or safety issues?

This didn’t have to be a large fee, Indri figured, but enough to set aside so that after a number of these projects, the city could use the money to purchase new vehicles to replace those with the most mileage.

"I thought it was a great idea," said Mayor Felix Roque, who saw the need to upgrade the fleet but did not want to increase taxes to do it. "When Robert Antolos became Director, he picked up on it right away."

Antolos agreed that this was a good way to go and continued The Police Off-Duty Car Fund. The cost of the vehicles comes exclusively out of the fund and not out of the general town budget. "This allows us to purchase new vehicles and replace older vehicles," Antolos said.

The vehicles will actually be leased for the first three years, and then Ford will allow the city to apply this to the purchase of two, with the third vehicle at $1 cost. Police Captain Santiago Cabrera said that through an arrangement with Ford Motor Company, West New York has three years to pay for the total cost on each car, and at zero percent interest so they don’t feel the impact all at once.

The city charges a fee of $150 per day, per project, Roque said. This covers the wear and tear on vehicles required to be issued to each site. The four vehicles have advanced mobile data computers, advanced emergency lighting, and radio systems. The program has been going on for eighteen months, and these four vehicles are the first of what the city hopes will be a number of similar purchases in the future.

Public Safety Director Antolos said the city hopes to continue the program to allow the department to replace more vehicles.

"I would love to replace the whole fleet eventually," Roque said.

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