Chief Police Don Adams provides a tour in the new electric carts distributed to Alamo Colleges district police. Photo by Jennifer Coronado
By JENNIFER CORONADO
jcoronado60@alamo.student.edu
The Alamo Colleges Police Department now has electric patrol cruisers at each college for police officers.
The cruisers have features similar to a golf cart with additional seating in the rear to transport passengers.
Two cruisers were issued to each campus for police operation on Alamo campuses this fall.
Each cruiser costs about $9,000 for a total of $90,000 for the 10 cruisers, Diane Snyder, vice chancellor for finance and administration, said.
The funds for the cruisers came from the department savings budget, Police Chief Don Adams said.
The Alamo College board of trustees approved the cruisers.
The new cruisers give the ability to operate year-round with the plastic coverage to keep out the rain, Adams said.
The cruisers cost the same price as the T3, another electric patrol vehicle used on campus. The cruisers are fully electric-powered.
“The T3 could not be used in the rain and had a higher service price for repairs,” Snyder added.
“They keep trying to use the T3, but they’re not as hardy.”
The cost to go with the cruisers was less than a car and they’re more reliable, Snyder said.
“We primarily don’t patrol in the cars anymore, but we’ll always have them,” Adams said.
The cruisers are a better way to build a relationship with students, Adams said.
They can give students a lift, Adams said.
