City Council
MEETING DATE: 5/10/2017
TITLE:
Title
Donation of Two Retired Marked Patrol Vehicles to College of the Desert Public Safety Academy
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FROM:
George Crum, Chief of Police
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Staff recommends the City Council allow the Police Department to donate two retired marked patrol vehicles (Units 41-05 and 42-05) to the College of the Desert Public Safety Academy.
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BACKGROUND:
College of the Desert started a Public Safety Academy (PSA) for both Police and Fire training in 2000. This academy offers the required state mandated training hours in a modular format, rather than the traditional six month intense academy setting.
DISCUSSION:
COD-PSA offers a unique educational opportunity for those who would like to become police officers or reserve police officers. An interested student can attend the modules of training offered in the same manner a student would attend regular semester courses in the evenings or on weekends. The academy modules allows those students who have families to support, or those who are required to work, to continue working as they attend the evening and weekend courses. Any academy attendance is a monetarily expensive venture.
The Cathedral City Police Department has hired several officers from this academy and views the academy as a local recruitment venue. The two retired marked patrol vehicles will be used for scenario testing and “Field Problem Scenarios”, offering a realistic approach to the training environment each student is exposed to. Ownership of these vehicles would be transferred to College of the Desert, rather than sold at auction. The City receives an average of one thousand dollars per marked patrol vehicle sold at auction. Both of these retired vehicles are 2005 Ford Crown Victoria’s, are well worn and of limited value. Staff believes the value to COD-PSA academy recruits and our future officers is well worth the donation.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The COD-PSA would take licensing ownership, liability and service responsibility for both retired patrol vehicles. Therefore, the expense to the City of Cathedral City would be the loss of approximately $2,000.00 in revenue from the sale at auction.
ATTACHMENTS:
None