On City Life last week John McDonough was referring to what he considered the large volume of Police Cruisers the City of Lowell Police Dept. owned (76) and using information from a 2011 report.

Police Supt. Lavallee was kind enough to answer my questions -Do we still have 76 marked cruisers? What did we use these cruisers for? and Would we be buying any new ones this upcoming Fiscal year?

Mr. Nutter,

No we do not have 76 marked cruisers. We have 52. Of those 24 are 3 years old or newer.

That includes all of the Patrol Cruisers, 5 of the Patrol Supervisors and 5 Traffic Cruisers. The others range for 1998 models through 2008.

9 are spare cruisers used when a front line cruiser goes down, when required at details or for parts.

We do not sell any of these as we drive them until they’re only good for parts. 12 of these cruisers were paid for through Traffic funds not the city budget and one is a drug seized vehicle. (Spare K9).

Yes. We will be buying six new cruisers (Chevrolet Caprices) this year and we’ll rotate six older cars out of the fleet

Here is a breakdown of marked cruisers:

PRESS RELEASE

DR. GARY K. WALLACE ANNOUNCES NEW INITIATIVE FOR POST 911 VETERANS

I am pleased to inform you of the Lowell Housing Authority’s initiative in establishing the non-profit Operation Returning Veterans (ORV) Program and its efforts to provide affordable home ownership and other opportunities for veterans and their families.

There are approximately 36,000 post 9/11 veterans in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Many of these veterans are faced with the difficulty of obtaining decent, affordable housing for themselves and their families. I believe there is a strong commitment in this state to show our returning veterans that their patriotism and service to our country are appreciated. These veterans and their families need education, job training, employment, housing, advocacy and services in order to thrive in our community.

The Operation Returning Veterans Program along with the Lowell Development Financial Corporation and the Residents First Development Corporation will ensure the development of the housing infrastructure necessary to support our returning veterans with affordable rentals and homeownership. The ORV advocacy group is bringing together local, state and private enterprises to support the success of the program. Through this collaboration, sixty (60) houses at the River’s Edge development will be completed that will provide an opportunity for a family friendly neighborhood in a community committed to supporting American service members and their families with education, job training, employment opportunities and other social services to ensure their long term success.

This program could become a national model for how communities can collaborate to support members of the military and their families and reintegrate them into a thriving sustainable community

Any help or assistance either individuals or organizations may be able to provide to ORV to further its mission of supporting post 9/11 veterans would be greatly appreciated. You may contact me directly to discuss the ORV Program and hopefully we can work together in support of the Operation Returning Veterans Program.

Please look at our new website: wwwoperationreturningveterans.org to see where you can help. Also, feel free to hit the feedback icon to provide us with your valuable input.