Christmas comes a little late for Key West police department

BY PRU SOWERS

KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER

Christmas 2017 may be in our review mirror but the Key West Police Department is still opening its presents.

City Commissioners voted unanimously on Jan. 4 to purchase several new pieces of equipment, including a new police patrol boat, nine new police cars and a $20,000 video telephone for use in hostage situations. The cost for the new equipment totals $638,166 although the patrol boat cost will be offset by a $270,600 grant from a federal Port Security Program. The out of pocket cost for Key West after the grant will be $367,440.

“This will help us improve our efficiency and effectiveness on land and sea with these cars and boat,” said Key West Police Chief Doni Lee.

The police department currently has two boats patrolling the waters around the city. One was purchased by the department in 2003 but the second boat is on loan from the state Department of Law Enforcement. The purchase of the new 29-foot vessel will allow the police to return the state boat. The new patrol boat purchase also includes several pieces of radio equipment, bringing the total cost to $362,590

The quarter-million-dollar purchase of nine new patrol cars was an anticipated expense and the new Ford Interceptor Ford Patrol Sedans will replace nine 2009 and 2010 Ford Crown Victorias. Lee said that his department starts looking at replacing patrol cars when they have been on the road for at least five years. The patrol cars will all be marked police vehicles and are being purchased from Don Reid Ford in Orlando.

The last piece of new equipment is a “Direct Link Bridge Series Video Throw Phone” for $20,578. The KWPD has a trained crisis negotiation team that assists the city special response team to handle hostage or barricaded subject incidents. Lee call the video phone a “critical piece of equipment” the crisis teams can use during negotiations “to provide direct secure communication with the suspect(s) and provide audio/video intelligence of the premises to negotiators.”

“This updated model is replacing our current Enforcer Technologies phone that is over 20 years old and lacks most, if not all the new features and technologies updates contained in the new [throw phone],” Lee wrote in a memo to City Manager Jim Scholl requesting permission to make the purchase.

[livemarket market_name="KONK Life LiveMarket" limit=3 category=“” show_signup=0 show_more=0]