New Sheriff's Cruisers

VINCENNES, IND. (WTHI) -       A southern Indiana county is improving the fleet for its sheriff's department without spending any local tax money.

     The Knox County Council has approved spending $125,000 for 5 new, fully equipped cruisers.

     The vehicles are being paid for in a unique manner.

      The Knox County Sheriff's Department has a number of cruisers.

       Some of them are getting old and have some hard miles on them.

      Sheriff Mike Morris tells News 10 that reliable vehicles are extremely important in this large rural county.

     "You have to be able to patrol it," said Morris, "and you have to be able to respond to emergencies and being one of the largest counties in the state in land mass we need reliable vehicles to get from point A to point B to provide the services to the citizens that's being required."

     The sheriff has received funding for 5 new Chargers to get those officers moving.

     The new cruisers are going to cost in excess of $100,000 and authorities say the good news is that none of that money will be coming from local tax dollars.

     "It actually came because of the extra hard work that the sheriff's department themselves put in," said Vice President of the Knox County Council Bob Lechner.  "As you know this comes out of funds they receive from housing out of county inmates.

     Knox County built its jail with the idea that it would be able to make some money by housing inmates for the Department of Corrections.

     Money that now is providing additional public safety.

     "What we're able to do is put our deputies into a safe vehicle," said Lechner, "and I think the result is going to be a higher level of public safety for everyone."

     And that improved equipment comes from taking care of the mistakes that others have made.

     The sheriff's office also expanded the fleet by one vehicle to provide a ride for a new deputy that will be hired later this year.