photo by: Eric Ayres

The Wheeling Police Department’s assigned vehicle program, which was implemented in 2021, by many different measures has been deemed “very successful” by city leaders.

WHEELING — The Wheeling Police Department’s fleet of vehicles has increased to more than 70, many of which have been added as part of the department’s new take-home cruiser program.

From many different aspects, the take-home vehicle program has been a tremendous success for the department and the city, officials said.

While the program is expected to greatly extend the longevity of police vehicles, the department still has to retire old vehicles and rotate new ones into the fleet. Members of Wheeling City Council this past week approved legislation that will bring a total of nine new vehicles to the department.

Along with radios and other related equipment needed to outfit those vehicles, the total cost of the purchases approved last week exceeded $517,000.

With more than a half-million dollars worth of vehicle-related costs being considered, city leaders sought answers about the current state of the fleet.

“I would like to know – how many police vehicles do we have?” asked Councilwoman Connie Cain.

“I couldn’t tell you without researching it, but it’s going to be in the range of 70-75,” Police Chief Shawn Schwertfeger said. “That includes motorcycles, a SWAT truck … those types of vehicles.”

That total number also includes vehicles for civilian staff members – which are not part of the assigned vehicle or take-home cruiser program that was implemented back under a different city council in 2021.

Before the assigned vehicle program was implemented, take-home vehicles were typically made available only to officers with a rank of sergeant or higher. Cruisers were shared among patrol officers who did not have their own assigned vehicles. Those cruisers were operated around the clock, as they were shared between shifts.

The wear and tear on those shared vehicles caused them to rack up miles quickly and cruise past their warranties. The non-stop use of the shared cruisers would greatly reduce their lifespan, and before long, the city would have to retire the vehicles and replace them.

“Several years ago, city council made a significant investment in the police department vehicle area in instituting a take-home cruiser program,” City Manager Robert Herron said. “It has been very, very successful. I believe all of our certified officers who are non-probationary now have a vehicle.

“But part of that investment was to make sure we maintained the annual replacement of vehicles to replace vehicles that obviously had timed out to keep that program going,” he added, “and to not have to go through a significant investment of acquiring 20 to 30 cars like we did to begin with.”

In order to implement the assigned vehicle program, the city purchased new vehicles in phases. The initial estimate to put the take-home cruiser program in place was around $1.3 million, and officials at the time eyed money from the city’s Project Fund, which had been bolstered by millions of dollars worth of federal pandemic relief aid through the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) Act.

“Other than this last batch that went through council the other night – we’re probably purchasing one less car annually,” Schwertfeger said Friday. “We still have to purchase vehicles annually. But the cost savings are in maintenance and, and believe it or not, fuel. We are below budget ever since we implemented the program in fuel costs. Which doesn’t make any sense other than the fact that the vehicles are better cared for and they’re not running 24 hours a day. So fuel costs are down, which is nice, so there is a cost savings.”

Officials noted that this year’s cost associated with purchasing vehicles and equipment for the police department was unusually high.

“Do we feel like $500,000 will be a number that will be every year? Every other year?” Councilman Ty Thorngate asked during last week’s council meeting.

“It’s a little bit higher this year because of the K-9 units, so no. It will not be that high,” Herron explained. “This is the annual allocation of police vehicles, it was included in the budget, which was approved by city council back in March. It is a little bit higher than normal because there are three K-9 units in this acquisition, which was a request of council at the time.”

The new purchases include $284,871 with Jim Shorkey Auto Group of Irwin, Pa., for seven police vehicles – including four 2023 Dodge Charger Pursuit vehicles to be used as police cruisers and three 2025 Ford Police Interceptor Utility vehicles for use with K-9 units.

Another purchase of $38,506 with Northside Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep-Ram of Summersville, W.Va., was for a 2024 Dodge Durango to be charged to the assigned police department program. This staff vehicle is for the police chief, who currently drives an assigned Ford Explorer that has electrical issues. The cost of the Durango was $6,000-$7,000 below state contract bids and was recommended by the city’s Vehicle Maintenance Department director, Schwertfeger noted.

Some civilian staff members who respond to police-related calls also have city vehicles. Last week’s legislation also included the approval of a $27,505 expenditure with Jim Shorkey Auto Group for a 2026 Chevy Trailblazer LS for use by the Crisis Response Unit at the police department. This purchase was funded through grant money from the West Virginia First Foundation.

Even Wheeling Police Department Public Information Officer Philip Stahl, who regularly responds to work-related calls, has an older city-issued vehicle.

Schwertfeger said the assigned vehicle program has many benefits in addition to the long-term cost savings to the city.

“There are other non-tangible things,” the chief said. “Our numbers are better, and we seem to have more success recruiting – so there are recruitment and retention effects in there, as well. It’s a nice perk for a police officer to have a government-issued vehicle.”

With each officer taking a police cruiser home, there are more marked vehicles out in the public. The increased visibility alone has helped establish a police presence in neighborhoods throughout the community, Schwertfeger noted. He added that there have been occasions when off-duty officers listening to police radio traffic were able to respond in their assigned vehicle to incidents in close proximity to them and make arrests.

“So that’s another key component there,” the chief said of response times.

Although the volume and frequency of police vehicle purchases for the city are expected to see a decrease in future years, there will always be a need for new vehicles, city officials noted.

“There are mechanical issues, crashes and we need to have spares available,” Schertfeger noted. “Some officers were assigned vehicles that already had 80,000 miles, so will still need to purchase new vehicles.”