Arlington Hts. will buy squad cars in last model year

The Arlington Heights village board on Tuesday approved the purchase of 10 Ford Crown Victorias as marked police squad cars for $213,835.

These cars represent one-third of the department’s fleet of squad cars, which is the number the village replaces each year.

This is the last year that Ford will make the Crown Victoria, and the village is getting its order in before the beginning of the municipality’s fiscal year to be sure the model will be available. With the Crown Victoria model, the village can continue to use equipment transferred from the old squad cars. It also will give the village staff a year to investigate what new line of cars to adopt for squad cars.

These are not hybrid cars, and there has not been an in-depth discussion of using hybrids for squad cars, said Mike Reynolds, village maintenance superintendent.

The village currently owns eight or nine hybrids, which are used in the fire, public works, building and health departments, he said.