New bikes and new fleet of cars to patrol Silver City
Silver City Sun-News, November 12, 2014
Photo: Captain Rick Villalobos stands next to one of the new patrol cars that hit the streets of Silver City last Thursday. Officer Efren Canas stands with his bike. Canas is one of the two new Silver City Police officers to be certified to provide bike patrol.
Last Thursday, a new fleet of police cars for the Silver City Police Department hit the streets. Thanks to the passage of the public safety tax, voted for by the public during the March municipal election, Silver City Police were able to purchase 10 new units at a cost of $335,000. The new cars come with computer systems.
This is the first new vehicle purchase the Silver City Police has been able to make since 2008. The vehicles the department is replacing are cars bought in 1998, 2001 and 2005 with mileage ranging from 115,000 miles to 156,000 miles on them.
Two weeks ago, the Silver City Police Department added a new bicycle patrol of two officers on bikes to downtown streets. Silver City Police Chief Ed Reynolds said he doesn't rule out that the new bike patrol may be used in different areas of town, as the need arises. Two more officers are expected to be certified for bike patrol in the coming months.