Corbin Police Dept. getting largest upgrade in 20 years

Corbin Police Chief Carson Mullins said he hopes to have 10 new police cruisers outfitted and patrolling the streets in about a month – the largest upgrade of the city’s fleet in over 20 years.
Nine of the ten new 2007 Ford Crown Victoria Interceptors sat in waiting behind Corbin City Hall Monday, poised to replace some of the department’s older vehicles. Already the cars are equipped with blue rail lights. Mullins said over the next few weeks, in stages, consoles and radio equipment and computers would be installed in the vehicles. Decals to mark the cruisers will be placed last.
The cars arrived last Monday. Mullins said he expects the tenth and final vehicle sometime soon.
“It’s probably the biggest morale booster, besides a pay raise, that you can get,” Mulllins said. He’s been police chief in Corbin for 20 years and said the cruisers are the largest one-time purchase of vehicles for the department in that span. In 1995, the city purchased seven cruisers to replace an aging fleet.
“These guys kind of live in them,” he added. “They are all tickled to death about it and I’m happy for them.”
The cruisers are specially equipped models with heavy-duty transmissions, super-charged engines and other improvements.
Mullins said nearly all of the department’s cruisers are nine to 10 years old with over 150,000 miles on them. The best ones will be saved as backups and used by officers regularly. The others, along with accompanying equipment, will be sold at auction.
“Vehicles are like everything else, they just work for so long before it becomes more expensive to maintain them and fix them than to just get new ones.”
Each of the new cruisers cost $20,043. Mullins said the Commission also approved brand new equipment for each one, which tallies an extra $3,100 per cruiser.
“Some of the equipment had been changed out two or three times,” he said. “Everything in the new cruisers will be brand new.”