Zelienople officials are looking to sell two of these police vehicles after receiving new cruisers this month.

ZELIENOPLE — Police in the borough hit the streets for patrol in three new vehicles last week, though at least one old vehicle will be staying in the borough’s possession.

Chief James Miller said the new vehicles were ordered in January with council’s approval. Meeting minutes indicate council unanimously approved the lease/purchase of vehicles and equipment for $160,000 for five years at an interest rate of 3.16 percent. A down payment of $38,000 was made in March, with annual payments of $35,250 beginning in March 2019.

The vehicles were delivered May 23. The Ford Interceptor SUVs come complete with new light bars, cages, computers and front and rear cameras. After additional work was conducted in Butler, the vehicles made their way to Zelienople last week and are now in use.

Miller said while they are similar to the older cruisers, they have more technology, including bluetooth capability and cloud storage for the cameras. In the past, video was stored to disc.

Miller said the biggest change, however, is the size.

“More room is the big thing,” he said of the SUVs, adding the vehicles are more spacious, are wider and allow officers to sit higher. He said they have been well-received by officers.

With the implementation of the new vehicles, the borough retired three police cruisers. Two of those vehicles were put out for bid. One received no bids and the other was bid upon, but the offer did not hit the minimum required amount.

At Monday’s council meeting, Miller said one of the vehicles can now be sold outright, as it has been put out for bid twice without appropriate responses. The other, however, will be bid again, with a minimum bid set at $1,500.

The third vehicle will remain in the borough’s possession after council members voted to keep it for administrative use. Don Pepe, borough manager, said there are times when officials and employees have had to use their personal vehicles for borough business. Keeping the car will eliminate that use.

“There are just times we shouldn’t be using our vehicles,” he said.

Pepe and Miller said it would take roughly $2,200 to get the car in order for daily, non-law enforcement use.