City of Warren gets eight new police cruisers - 21 News Now, More Local News for Youngstown, Ohio -

WARREN, Ohio - Planning in the city of Warren has paid off for police and citizens.

Eight new 2013 Ford Interceptor will be part of the arsenal that the Warren Police Department will have at its disposal in the fight against crime.

Mayor Doug Franklin tells 21 News that the cruisers are equipped with state of the art technology including computers and cameras that automatically operate.

Franklin says the new cruisers will increase safety. "Officer safety and citizen safety and we also have the MDT units and the cameras so that we can tape and we can at least monitor the actions of our police officers and the actions of citizens in some cases. So it's very important for both citizens and officers," Franklin said.

Chief Tim Bowers says the cruisers these Interceptors will replace are worn down. "We were still driving cars from 1999 with 175 thousand miles on them. It became less absolute that we were going to get there. It was time to get new vehicles," Bowers said.

But before now there was no regular replacement schedule or funds to purchase new cruisers. But city council has changed that and implemented a plan to replace cruisers on a regular basis so that there is not a future need to buy eight vehicles again at one time.

"What we were able to do is take that tow fee and allocate it to the vehicle replacement fund of the police department," said Councilman Eddie Colbert.

"There will be legislation in September for false alarm fees. We are hoping to put that also into vehicle replacement funds," said Councilman Vincent Flask.

Money and proceeds from items seized through the courts in drug raids is helping pay for the technology in the cruisers.

The city of Warren will be stenciled on the side and the cruisers will be on the streets in days.