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Niles chief complains about cruisers’ finish
By Jordan Cohen
NILES
Police Chief Robert Hinton is unhappy about the condition of a number of the city’s police cruisers and wants the Ford Motor Co. to do something about it.
Hinton’s concern is not with the vehicles’ performance or maintenance.
It’s the condition of the exteriors.
“We’ve got 14 of our 37 cruisers that have extreme peeling and flaking of paint along with rust,” Hinton said. “They don’t project a positive image for either our police department or Ford.”
Hinton has mailed a letter to the Ford corporate offices in Dearborn, Mich., complaining about the cruisers and requesting the company correct the paint issues.
“We are hopeful that [Ford] can offer some type of assistance to remedy this problem and restore these vehicles back to a condition that [Niles] and [Ford[ would be proud of to represent the community,” his letter states. Hinton enclosed photos of each cruiser with the letter.
Nine of the 14 vehicles are 2007 and 2008 models with the remaining five from 2005 and earlier model years. The chief said there are no paint issues with most of the older models.
The problems Hinton wrote about are quite visible in the police parking lot. Large sections of rust can be seen on the roofs of several cruisers while paint has disappeared from parts of doors and hoods.
The chief said the exteriors began flaking more than six months ago and the problem is worsening.
“One of our people was using a regular garden hose to wash a cruiser in the parking lot, the paint just poured off and this was not a high-pressure wash,” Hinton said. “Part of the lot looked like we had a snowstorm in the middle of summer.”
Hinton said that patrolmen and officers who live in Niles take cruisers home and are responsible for their upkeep.
The chief said some in his department members have spray-painted the rust spots and have even used white-out correction liquid to try to cover the unsightly spots.
An attempt to reach a Ford public relations representative Friday was unsuccessful.
The chief emphasized he has not soured on Ford and is happy with the cruisers’ mechanical performance.
Hinton said the city has ordered four 2015 Explorer SUV cruisers from Ford for $26,800 each.
“The good thing about these new vehicles is that they’re all-wheel drive and can be used when there are extreme conditions such as heavy snowfall or flooding,” the chief said.