JOPLIN, Mo. — A local police department is facing some hurdles trying to upgrade its patrol fleet.
The city budget allows for seven new vehicles for the Joplin Police Department this year, but finding the cars to buy hasn’t exactly been easy.
The department had been purchasing Dodge Chargers outfitted for law enforcement use, but had issues buying new ones.
Officers say flexibility has been crucial to find new patrol cars.
JPD Capt. Will Davis, said, “Coronavirus kind of played a big impact on manufacturing with vehicles – we did have some factories that shut down. There were certain vehicles that weren’t, make/models that weren’t available.”
JPD will be adding Chevy Tahoes to the fleet this Summer, and is currently evaluating the existing cars to see what they may need to replace next year.
