Marysville Police Department getting new vehicles

After a months-long process the Marysville Police Department premiered their new vehicle model and graphics that they hope will be their model and design for the foreseeable future.

The model is the Ford Interceptor Explorer, a vehicle designed specifically for police departments.

“We’ve been in the process for about a year now,” said Marysville Police Commander Wendy Wade. “We knew that we wanted to look into the best option. We wanted to make sure we weren’t just doing what we’ve always done and we’re making an informed decision."

The department currently has three vehicles with the new design.

“Our old vehicles will be cycled out and replaced with these new vehicles,” said Wade. “It will take a lot of years before the entire fleet is replaced with these Ford Explorers."

The Explorers cost about $65,000 per vehicle, including the costs for graphics, sirens, radio and lights.

“It does take a while for us to get a new vehicle ready too,” said Wade, as the city’s own mechanics have to install the graphics, lights and other equipment before the cars are ready to be deployed.

Wade said the new Explorers cost more than the department’s former Explorers because they are hybrid vehicles.

The department expects savings because of the more efficient engines.

“They are hybrid vehicles, so they get better mileage,” said Wade. “I know that they get a lot better fuel economy and that’s the reason that the department went with them."

Most of the department’s vehicles are still traditional gas engines, but they now have the three recently purchased vehicles and two others that are hybrid vehicles.

Wade said police officers were involved in the design of the new graphics.

“We wanted something that stood out and is clear is a police vehicle,” she said.

They also went with the all-black model for the vehicle, largely because it cost less money.

“I know that the black and white is really popular right now,” said Wade, but added that the dual-color cars cost more.

“So we just went with the all black, and that was able to save quite a bit of money,” she said.

Three of the older cars in the department, a 2008, 2011 and 2013 Crown Victoria, were replaced with the new Ford Explorer model.

After all the Crown Victorias are replaced, the department will replace Caprice Classics that were purchased in 2013 and 2014, and then the white model Ford Explorers.

Most vehicles are replaced after about a decade, although Wade said it is as much about mileage as years.

The Crown Victoria vehicles that were replaced had between 90,000 and 95,000 miles on them.

She expects the Ford Explorers will have a similar lifespan.