Freeport police get 11 new vehicles, with the latest high tech

The Freeport police will have eight new police cars to patrol the village streets, plus three other needed vehicles, at a cost just north of $513,000 through state money attained by State Sen. John Brooks and State Assemblywoman Judy Griffin.

Mayor Robert Kennedy thanked the legislators at a March 11 news conference outside the Freeport Police Department headquarters along with Deputy Mayor Ronald Ellerbe, Trustee Jorge Martinez, Trustee Evette Sanchez, and three members of the Freeport Police Department, Assistant Police Chief Carl Hetzel, Officer Steven Margiotta, and Officer Michelle Haslam.

“The police have a critical role in our society,” Brooks said “We have to make sure they can do their job. … This is a village that provides outstanding public safety. They’ve taken advantage of technology at every turn. And we have to give them the funds to keep doing it that way.”

“I’m proud to stand here today knowing that our New York State Assembly funded Freeport with important police equipment,” said Griffin. “It is so important to continue that throughout our state, and throughout my district—to fund the police with training and with resources.”

The new vehicles include eight Chevrolet Tahoes to be used as patrol cars, a Chevrolet Spark for the parking meter personnel, a pickup truck to transport heavy equipment, and a Dodge Durango for village detectives.

The pickup truck, Kennedy said, was “for the transportation and inspection of the weight scales that we use with the Department of Transportation, which we use on a regular basis. We’re required to go up to Albany and have these scales inspected every so many months, so we need that vehicle to bring those big scales back up to Albany.”

High-capacity scales are used for commercial vehicle inspections that Freeport officers conduct at random times and locations. Overweight vehicles pose a great risk to motorists and pedestrians.

Kennedy noted that the new patrol cars are police pursuit rated, and would be equipped with video cameras, computers to interface with the village’s License Plate Reader program, radios, protective partitions between front and back seats, lights, and sirens. They have high-performance, fuel-efficient, six-cylinder engines.

The village is especially grateul to Brooks and Griffin because, Kennedy explained, “$513,000 is more than a point on our property tax for our residents. It’s about $400,000 per point, so this holds the taxes down for our residents and it’s making our village safer.”

“Nothing makes a veteran officer happier than the arrival of new police vehicles,” Hetzel said. “Due to Covid in the past couple of years, it’s been very difficult to get vehicles, and with the assistance of our purchasing department in the village we were able to locate these vehicles in a timely manner, so it was very fortunate. Above all else, I’d like to thank the village garage because they’ve been taking care of our older fleet, and quite honestly they may be the happiest in the village right now that we have these new vehicles.”

“Remember,” Kennedy said, “the police cars are running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. … Many of our older vehicles really have exceeded their life cycle in miles and operation.”

Hetzel also spoke of the stress on police vehicles, given their constant daily use. “Things happen,” he said. “You’re on the roads all the time, accidents occur, unfortunately. You have a car go down, it’s difficult to replace them.” He said that the officers that drive the cars work in teams and take pride in doing their part to care for the vehicles.

Even the older cars don’t get wasted. “We have a big village, so we can use them,” Hetzel said. “The cars are very hard to come by, and we need more and more, so an older car can be a spare for us or for DPW, but we definitely use it. We’re not spoiled that way. We don’t get rid of anything, and the village garage is good.”