Officers: police cars fit for the scrap heap
Police emergency response vehicles are on their “last legs”, suffering repeated breakdowns and remaining in service long after they should be decommissioned, it has been claimed.
Bermuda Police Service sources also told The Royal Gazette that the situation was so dire that officers at times were unable to go out on patrol or respond to emergency calls.
One frontline officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “Cars are continuously breaking down and are patched back together and put back on patrol, only to break down again a few days later.
“Older vehicles that were taken out of commission to be utilised as replacements when regular vehicles require repair are now being utilised as regular patrol vehicles.
“We are spending so much just sticking band-aids on vehicles that should have been replaced two or three years ago.”
The officer said police were often forced to carry out patrols wearing full safety equipment in vehicles that did not have air conditioning.
They added: “On several occasions we have come to work and there were no functioning vehicles to allow us to go on patrol or answer calls for service.
“When we do get the odd new vehicle, we are continually buying different brands, meaning extra costs for assorted parts and mechanics having to learn about each new vehicle.
“Every financial year we only get enough of a budget to add one or two new vehicles, but almost the entire fleet needs to be replaced.”
The source said the Government needed to plan ahead and make a “significant investment” in the fleet.
They said: “The Government is aware of the situation but seems unwilling or unable to make the significant and regular investment to address the problem.
“These are the only set of government vehicles that are on the road 24/7, 365 days of the year, and they face significant wear and tear.
“Even if they gave us a massive cash injection now the problem will persist for the foreseeable future as we couldn’t get the cars in quick enough to make an immediate impact.
“We understand finances are tight. Giving us access to the funds we put into the confiscated asset fund would help, but we barely see a penny of that.”
According to the source, one officer launched a fundraiser with area residents to buy an electric car for her patrols.
The source said: “That’s where we’ve gotten to — looking for help from the public just to get vehicles.”
The claims were backed up by a second uniformed officer, who said that the state of the BPS fleet had been a long-running concern.
The officer, who also asked not to be named, said: “I would say that 50 per cent of our fleet has been off the road at any one time over the last five years — that’s unsustainable.
“What we need is an injection of funding for new vehicles in order to keep the fleet on the road.
“The police garage is working around the clock at the moment. The problem is, we’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on repairs, which is incredibly short-sighted. These vehicles shouldn’t be getting repaired; they need to be replaced.”
The officer said that BPS vehicles can run up as much as 100,000 miles on the road in a single year, at which point they should be replaced.
They added: “Instead, we have cars that have been on the road for three years and have run up 300,000 miles — and we’re sending them to the repair shop when they should be scrapped.”
The Royal Gazette sent questions addressed to Michael Weeks, the Minister of National Security, about the concerns raised by the two officers.
A spokesman for the Ministry of National Security issued the following response: “The minister has been briefed on the challenges over the current BPS vehicle fleet and takes the matter seriously. He has had a tour of the police garage and met with police mechanics to hear first-hand of the challenges.
“While no capital funds were originally budgeted in financial year 2021-22 for vehicle purchases, $150,000 was found from savings and provided to the BPS to purchase vehicles in 2021-22.
“A further $300,000 was allocated for the BPS to replace vehicles in this fiscal year. That’s $450,000 in two years for replacement vehicles.
“In respect of the type of vehicles being purchased and other matters of procurement, the Commissioner of Police is better placed to respond.”
The spokesman did not respond to questions about future funding for the fleet.
But Michael Dunkley, the opposition One Bermuda Alliance spokesman on national security, accused the Government of failing to provide necessary funds.
Mr Dunkley said: “I have raised this issue in previous Budget replies and asked about funding allocations based on the fact that police vehicles travel a great deal, travel at speed and suffer a great deal of wear and tear. Those questions have fallen on deaf ears.”
He said that he had had a recent encounter with a police patrol, which had highlighted the problem frontline officers were facing.
He said: “They were in a car that I would have been embarrassed to have on the road. The officer told me that the car hardly moved and was in terrible shape.
“The message we’re sending out is that we’re expecting our police officers to answer emergency 911 calls in vehicles that aren’t up to the job. That’s both disrespectful and dangerous to our police officers and the community.”
Questioned about the crisis, Darrin Simons, the Commissioner of Police, acknowledged that the force faced “some challenges with our current ageing fleet”.
He also confirmed that police vehicles reached the end of their working lives far more quickly than private vehicles — and that police mechanics worked “exceptionally hard” to keep older vehicles operational.
“This is not a new issue, and without a doubt is a source of frustration for the members,” Mr Simons said.
He added that the Government had given the BPS $300,000 in its last Budget to replenish the fleet, but supply-chain difficulties meant that there was a shortage of new vehicles available on the market.
Mr Simons said: “Unfortunately, global supply-chain issues have hampered our efforts.
“The reality is that several factors have caused vehicle production to significantly slow down, with production reportedly not expected to reach pre-pandemic levels before the end of 2023.
“Despite this, the Bermuda Police Service continues to explore a range of options to replenish its ageing fleet with the funding provided by the Government.
“As to claims that a lack of vehicles has resulted in officers having to walk to calls for service, this has not come to my attention.”
The Royal Gazette e-mailed a list of questions to the police several days ahead of publication of this story. The questions included:
• Can you say how many vehicles the BPS has?
• Can you say how many are off the road at any one time?
• Do you know how many new vehicles are needed to bring the fleet up to full strength?
No response to these questions was received by press time last night.
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