The Denver City Council voted Monday to spend more than $1 million on 23 new patrol cars for the Denver Police Department.
A contract for $1.043 million will go to Asbury Automotive Group. The cars are 2024 Dodge Durangos and will come fully outfitted for police use, according to city staff.
Three council members voted against buying the new police cars, including Sarah Parady, Shontel Lewis and Serena Gonzales Guttierez. Parady said during a time of impending budget cuts buying cars should be reconsidered. But the superintendent of the police fleet said 65-70% of their cars have gone beyond their useful lives. The city spends about a $1 million per year repairing the cars, he said. Sometimes they even replace engines and transmissions. Best practices call for replacing cars before they get to that point, the superintendent said. Some cars have as many as 200,000 miles on them, he said. “We don’t want wheels falling off the police car at 75 mph going to a call.”