By EUGENE BINGHAM political reporter
Police cars with several hundred thousand kilometres on the clock are due to be replaced in a $20 million upgrade of the police fleet.
Senior officers want to have their biggest spendup on cars in years and are seeking cabinet approval to buy more than 650 vehicles.
Their pitch has won sympathy from Police Minister George Hawkins, who said yesterday that he was appalled at the state of the fleet.
"Some cars have 400,000km on the clock - some of them are museum pieces."
Police figures show that nearly half of the fleet of about 2200 have odometer readings of more than 100,000km.
Mr Hawkins said this was unacceptable. "People may argue that taxis do over 100,000km but taxis aren't involved in high-speed chases.
"I think it's a health and safety issue."
He blamed the rundown in the fleet on the failed Incis computer project, which cost the police more than $100 million.
The budget for the 1996-1997 and 1997-1998 financial years - at the height of the Incis project - had been slashed to just $5 million.
In the past two years, the National-led Government had approved spending of $14.8 million and $13.5 million on cars, although some of that was Apec-related.
Police Association president Greg O'Connor said police were crying out for new cars.
He knew of one senior officer who used his own car to escort a forensic expert around at the weekend because he was too embarrassed to use his police car. "There are some vehicles that remain on the road only because of the sheer skills of mechanics," said Mr O'Connor.
Overseas forces tended to ensure their officers had better cars.
"We found it quite amusing recently when there were problems in Western Australia because they were trying to replace cars at 60,000km instead of 40,000km."
Once the project has cabinet approval, expected in several weeks, the police will invite tenders.
Last year, Ford Falcons, Subarus and a range of four-wheel-drive vehicles were on the police shopping list.
The new police cars will be in addition to the 180 highway patrol vehicles promised by the Government.
Police to spend $20m on new cars for fleet
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.