Landis Police awarded grant for utility vehicle
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, September 18, 2012
By Shavonne Potts
spotts@salisburypost.com
LANDIS – Sometime this week the Landis Police Department may have a new vehicle in its fleet, but this one won’t have doors.
The department has been awarded a $9,999 grant by the N.C. Governor’s Crime Commission to pay for a utility vehicle.
The UTV and associated equipment will cost $15,000, and the police budget will cover the $5,000 difference.
The UTV will be used at town events, but its main use will be to patrol the Lake Corriher Wilderness Area.
The police department requested during budget meetings earlier this year that money be set aside for the UTV. Police Detective Roger Hosey wrote the grant in November and said the department found out it had been awarded in April. Hosey said the grant is a 25 percent match from the town.
Police Chief Bob Wood said he just recently received the official paperwork.
The grant will pay for a four-seater UTV with a dump bed on the back.
The department would then need to have additional equipment placed on the vehicle including lights, a radio, a top and a windshield.
Wood said in order for the white vehicle to fit in with the department’s black-and-white patrol vehicles, he’d like to have decals or a wrap placed on it.
Although the UTV won’t be fully equipped, Wood said, it would be used immediately.
The department will get the vehicle from R.S. Braswell Co. in Kannapolis, which is the closest Bobcat provider. The state handled the bid process to determine the brand and the closest dealer.
There will not be any additional unbudgeted cost to the town for the UTV, Wood said.
Wood hopes the department will have the UTV this week, but it may have to place an order if one isn’t in stock.
Contact reporter Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253.