Cruisers

A house, a parked car and two law enforcement vehicles were damaged after the same car crashed twice early today in Danville. Witnesses saw a white Chevrolet Impala speeding down Chestnut Street about midnight when the driver lost control, hit a parked Pontiac Grand Prix, flipped over and one of the two vehicles slid into a house at 450 Caldwell St., Assistant Police Chief Tony Gray said. Witnesses reported three black males ran from the car, and police were still looking for them this morning, he said.

Motorists throughout the state may do a double-take this summer as Kentucky State Police begin rolling out new cruisers with an updated look.   The agency is transitioning from the Ford Crown Victoria, which is no longer being manufactured, to the 2012 Chevrolet Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle. KSP recently purchased 125 of the vehicles - 100 in traditional gray and 25 in tan for use by its Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division - to begin replacing its aging fleet of 2004-2010 model Fords.  “Our current fleet is subject to a rigorous maintenance schedule designed to extend the working life of each vehicle as much as possible,” says KSP Commissioner Rodney Brewer.

Dear Editor, In response to the headlines on Friday, I would like to ask the magistrates how they can trust their very lives to the sheriff's department, but do not have the trust in Sheriff Hardin to be responsible for the cruisers' upkeep and maintenance. I will be the first to admit we need to watch county spending, but not here. Sheriff Hardin and his team deserve to have equipment in top working order, and he needs to have the authority to get it done when he sees fit. In fact, he needs that authority when it comes to issues related to his and his deputies' welfare.

Dear Editor: I'm so glad to see all these local residents writing in to support the free expression of beliefs on police cruisers. I find it interesting to wonder what these people will say next week when they see a cruiser in their neighborhood using their hard-earned tax dollars to display a "Chandler-Owen 2003" bumper sticker. After all, he is the candidate officially endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police, is he not? If Ben Chandler is good enough for our heroic Boys in Blue, then he's good enough to get my praise!

LIBERTY - The Casey County Sheriff's Department will get three much-needed new patrol cruisers with the help of a $34,590 federal grant announced Friday by First District Congressman Ed Whitfield. "We're desperate for some new cars," Sheriff Jerry Coffman said Saturday. "Half of what we've got have more than 150,000 miles on them, some have more than 200,000 miles. " The grant comes from the Department of Agriculture Rural Development Program and will be used to purchase three new 2008 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptors.

Boyle County Sheriff LeeRoy Hardin has instructed his deputies to park their cruisers when it's time for repair or maintenance. The cruisers won't get repairs until a majority of the county's six magistrates approve the expense. The sheriff released a memo Thursday saying he has told deputies to park their cruisers in the courthouse parking lot until four signatures from magistrates approving the expenses have been obtained. The memo says all deputies have been issued a form, which includes the magistrates' addresses, to be signed in the event of repair or emergency.

LIBERTY - Local police officers will be better equipped after action Tuesday by the City Council. The council voted to spend more than $18,000 for radar units and video cameras for cruisers, three Tazer guns and a handgun. Police Chief Ron Whited made the request for the equipment in an earlier meeting and compiled a list of costs of each item. The Tazer guns are used to stun a person in a life threatening situation. Whited said. The Kentucky League of Cities recommend that cities have Tazer guns and in-car video cameras, the chief said.

HARRODSBURG - Law enforcement officers across Mercer County will have up-to-date communications equipment in their cruisers due to a grant from the state Department for Homeland Security. The $409,762 will go toward purchasing mobile data terminals for the cruisers of Harrodsburg and Burgin police departments and Mercer County Sheriff's Department. The terminals will allow officers to communicate with central dispatch without involving a dispatcher. Harrodsburg Police Chief Ernie Kelty and Assistant Chief Rodney Harlow said the terminals are estimated to cost about $394,762.

Along with cemeteries, several other items also were discussed during the budget talks held during a special city commission meeting on Thursday. Commissioner Terry Crowley reminded commissioners that he wanted to stay focused on additional training for city managerial and supervisory staff. "I'm not advocating a huge increase in what we spend on it, I just want to make sure it's not left out, and is still a focus," Crowley said. He said staff members at this level deal with the public so often, he wanted to make sure training was kept up to speed.

JUNCTION CITY - Soon, people who listen to police scanners won't be able to hear Junction City communications. The City Council approved Police Chief Jimmy Gipson's request Thursday for $1,800 to install an Internet program enabling officers to use the silent Computer Assisted Dispatch system. The department already has received a $40,000 Homeland Security Grant for computerized systems in each cruiser. "This is basically just an additional package that will be installed with that to allow us to talk to the dispatcher through an Internet screen rather than broadcast over the radio," Gipson said.

An Owingsville man told police he thought he hit a curb Wednesday morning. Instead, according to law enforcement officials, he had rear-ended a Clark County deputy sheriff in his cruiser. Then he fled the scene. Gary L. Jones, 38, is now in the Clark County Detention Center on charges of driving under the influence, second-degree wanton endangerment and leaving the scene of an accident. According to court documents, Deputy Johnny Graves said he was at the intersection of Boone and Belmont avenues when his cruiser was hit from behind.

Two vehicles including a Danville police cruiser were involved in a minor collision Thursday evening. About 5:50 p.m., Danville police officer Brian Adams was responding to Southland Shopping Center at 975 Hustonville Road. As Adams entered the intersection of Hustonville Road and Baughman Avenue with the cruiser's emergency lights and siren activated, he collided with a 1999 Mercury driven by Crysta Mongeau, 19, of Danville. No one was hurt in the collision, police said.

A Williamsburg woman is in jail in Jessamine County after bumping a police cruiser with her car and leading sheriff's deputies on a chase into Garrard County. Shawna Fuston, 20, allegedly struck a Nicholasville Police Department cruiser around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday morning. Nicholasville police officials had few details later Wednesday morning on that incident, but the Jessamine County Sheriff's Office was called in to help apprehend Fuston. “Our deputies assisted,” chief deputy Allen Peel said, “and after making a U-turn on South Main at Edgewood (Drive)

Motorists throughout the state may do a double-take this summer as Kentucky State Police begin rolling out new cruisers with an updated look.   The agency is transitioning from the Ford Crown Victoria, which is no longer being manufactured, to the 2012 Chevrolet Caprice Police Patrol Vehicle. KSP recently purchased 125 of the vehicles - 100 in traditional gray and 25 in tan for use by its Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division - to begin replacing its aging fleet of 2004-2010 model Fords.  “Our current fleet is subject to a rigorous maintenance schedule designed to extend the working life of each vehicle as much as possible,” says KSP Commissioner Rodney Brewer.

A house, a parked car and two law enforcement vehicles were damaged after the same car crashed twice early today in Danville. Witnesses saw a white Chevrolet Impala speeding down Chestnut Street about midnight when the driver lost control, hit a parked Pontiac Grand Prix, flipped over and one of the two vehicles slid into a house at 450 Caldwell St., Assistant Police Chief Tony Gray said. Witnesses reported three black males ran from the car, and police were still looking for them this morning, he said.

One of the two main points of Monday’s Wilmore City Council meeting was discussion on whether to repair or replace one of the city’s 8-year-old police cruisers. Wilmore Police Chief Steve Boven reported to the council that one of the department’s police cruisers needs more than $3,000 worth of repairs. The 2003 Ford Crown Victoria has more than 180,000 miles on it, Boven said. The garage workers who inspected the car told Boven the department should take the car off the road and refrain from driving it until repairs were made.

I should have known that my last bridesmaid gig of 2010 would end with a bang. I should have known that a career including forgotten dresses, fried chicken hastily stuffed in my purse and a three-hour detour to find a dog would not go gently into the night. And when I say that I went out with a bang, I mean the bang created when a large object is used to shatter a car window. That would be the window of my car, my innocent little Toyota that has already been through so much.

STANFORD — The City of Lancaster’s loss has proven to be Lincoln County’s gain. Lincoln Fiscal Court on Tuesday agreed to purchase two police cruisers from Lancaster for $13,000 each. Both are fully-equipped 2008 Ford Crown Victorias — one with 32,000 miles on it, the other with 27,000 — that still are under five-year, 50,000-mile warranties. “They are nice cars,” Lincoln Sheriff Kurt Folger said. “Lancaster did us very well.

After Tuesday night's special-called city council meeting, Stanford councilmen toured the site of the old Stanford Creamery to inspect the progress of clean up crews and toss around ideas on what to do with the almost nine acre site. The creamery, which has been closed for three decades, is still structurally sound and Mayor Bill Miracle and council members see many potential uses for the building and surrounding property on Martin Luther King Street. While plans are still in the formative stage, ideas seem split between recreational and industrial use. The former creamery has the largest loading dock in town and has potential to be put to commercial use, but being located next to the site of the proposed Logan's Fort and visitor center makes it a good fit for some type of recreational complex.

STANFORD - Lincoln County Sheriff's Department has recovered a vehicle stolen from one of its own early Saturday morning. Sheriff Curt Folger said that the gray Chevy Tahoe issued to Deputy Ryan Kirkpatrick was taken from Kirkpatrick's home in Stanford between 12:30 a.m. and 3 a.m. Saturday. Folger said he and another deputy located the vehicle partially submerged in Buck Creek in the southern part of the county later Saturday morning. "It was almost half under water when we came upon it," Folger said.