Capping an effort that has brought together career law-enforcement officers, budget hawks and environmental volunteers, New Paltz’s police fleet now includes two hybrid SUVs among its vehicles. Carrying on an initiative put into motion by his predecessor, Chief Robert Lucchesi worked with climate-smart community’s task force to make law enforcement a greener endeavor, both living more lightly on the earth, and reducing not insignificantly the overall cost of vehicle ownership.
Two of the ten marked New Paltz police cars are now hybrids.
Lucchesi characterizes police vehicles as “mobile offices,” equipped not only with lights and sirens and a variety of crime-fighting equipment but also a computer, printer and modem. Those electronics would drain the battery of a gasoline-powered vehicle quite quickly, which is why officers leave them running as they work. The new hybrid vehicles have gas engines that only start up when power reserves are low, saving gas and reducing pollution. The change is also expected to extend vehicle life and reduce maintenance costs.
Idling is a common habit among drivers. Many believe it actually saves fuel (which it does not, except when the engine is left at idle for less than ten seconds). Drivers in the United States burn three billion gallons of gasoline annually by refusing to turn off their engines while waiting in drive-through lanes, picking up kids at school, lining up for coronavirus tests, and running other errands. That habit pumps 30 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere annually in the United States alone.
Competing for vehicles
One of the two new hybrid vehicles is leased. The other was purchased outright with SUNY impact aid, state money provided in acknowledgment that being a SUNY host community increases costs municipal costs. Leases run for three years, and in the past town officials have sometimes exercised the purchase option at that point.
The downside of buying out a lease is calculated risk that maintenance will be less expensive than leasing a replacement right away.
The police chief’s enthusiasm for this new direction is infectious. The town climate-smart communities task force approached the prior chief, Joseph Snyder, about switching to hybrid or electric vehicles. While Snyder was a willing partner, securing greener police vehicles proved a challenge. Chief Lucchesi had to finish what Snyder started. supply. “The biggest obstacle is the availability,” Lucchesi explained, particularly with the pandemic impacting the manufacture of vehicles during much of 2020. The New Paltz department is not a big agency, he noted, with only a few vehicles leased each year. Before retiring, Snyder had established a relationship to secure such vehicles through Enterprise Fleet Management. New Paltz, competing with larger agencies for a limited number of vehicles, orders placed in March were not filled until November.
Smaller cops get older cars
The climate-smart task force found that police vehicles churn out the equivalent of 150 tons of carbon annually, on average. Switching over to a hybrid fleet should reduce emissions by 43 percent, according to task force member Amanda Gotto. Fully electric vehicles would have a more profound impact.
The source of electricity can make a difference in the impact of that power. All the electricity in New Paltz is purchased from renewable sources. Electric police vehicles aren’t widely available yet. Lucchesi said that the Tesla 3 is thus far the only model on the market that might be able to be outfitted. The new justice center will have at least six charging stations for members of the public, but it wasn’t immediately clear whether additional stations covered by that grant would be used solely for police vehicles. Electric vehicle are more expensive, but Lucchesi anticipates savings down the line if they can be purchased.
Lucchesi is eager to add more Ford Interceptor sports utility vehicles to the fleet, but that’s going to happen at the speed of government. Plans to lease one in 2021 were delayed to help keep the town budget within the tax cap this year, but that replacement will be needed in 2022 regardless of the fiscal terrain.
These SUVs seem quite large, but police cars tend to be rather cramped for their drivers. Seeing the amount of space taken up by electronics, it’s not surprising that most officers don’t have a partner riding shotgun. Unlike civilians, law-enforcement officers can’t toss things in the back seat, which is reserved for transporting prisoners. The trunk, too, is jam-packed with everything from emergency flares to medical equipment.
“We couldn’t use a Chevy Volt,” the chief said. The older automobile models tend to be assigned to officers who are smaller, because with everything that’s crammed inside there’s little leg room.
Benefits of certification
Working with the police to get greener vehicles is part of the implementation phase, according to Janelle Peotter, the town’s climate-smart coordinator. Members of the task force began their work by conducting inventories and securing funds for research studies on topics such as the future of flooding in New Paltz, all of which was sufficient enough to earn bronze certification for town and village alike under the state’s climate-smart communities program. That designation gives the community priority when it applies for state aid tied to forestalling climate change. Keeping that level of certification, as well as earning the higher silver designation, requires continuing efforts.
Join the family! 
