Stow Police to get 4 New SUVs

The Stow Police Department will add four new 2013 Ford Utility Police Interceptors to its emergency fleet this year.

Stow City Council voted Thursday to approve spending $107,584 to add the SUVs to the police fleet via a statewide cooperative purchasing program.

Stow Police Chief Louis Dirker told council this week that the addition of the four new SUVs will bring the department closer to having a full fleet of cop cars.

Recent updates to the police fleet — four new cruisers last year — have allowed the department to cut down its maintenance costs by the sheer virtue of driving newer models, Dirker said.

At one point the department was spending as much as $80,000 per year on maintenance costs to keep cars on the road. In recent years those costs have been cut to between $20,000 and $30,000, Dirker said.

The chief expects the addition of the four new SUVs this year will further lower maintenance costs, and the department plans to add two more new cruisers in 2014.