Boise's fleet operations keeps squad cars rolling

BOISE, Idaho (KBOI) — Given the nature of the work, it's not surprising the 300 vehicles in the Boise Police fleet drove the most miles of any city fleet this year -- 2.6 million miles, the hands down winner.

And those are also probably the toughest miles any city vehicle has to drive, says Dennis Falconer, vehicle maintenance manager with the city's fleet services.

"Yeah, generally, they can endure some pretty hard environments and they've got to be ready to go at a moment's notice," he said.

Making sure those police cars, mostly late model Dodge Chargers and Ford Interceptors, are ready to go is the job of the 12 technicians plus administrative staff at Boise's fleet services operations.

They also take care of all 1,400 vehicles in the city's 13 different departments.

The last thing you want is a squad car breaking down responding to a call so the police fleet gets plenty of tender loving care.

"Preventative maintenance would be inspections, make sure its safe, adequate brakes tires, all systems are operating properly so police when they hit the road they're ready to go," Falconer said.

This fiscal year the city spent $484,000 on maintenance and repair for the Boise Police fleet.

A squad car can come in with some unusual damage.

But most of the time the concern is where the rubber meets the road.

"You see some bumps and scrapes which is natural for patrol division," Falconer said. "But you see tires, and you have to predict for weather since we have some inclement weather during the winter in Idaho."

And the fleet services staff keeps up with always evolving police technology through in depth training.

Boise fleet services has received national recognition for its work.

In 2015, it was named the number one fleet in the country by Government Fleet Magazine, a leading transportation industry trade journal which also picked it as number two nationwide just the year before.

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