Sergeant Clay Leak of the Boulder, Colorado Police Department has several Teslas in his garage, but one on his job would have been the icing on the cake. After a few months of diligence, Sgt. Leak has a Model Y in his Boulder Police Department fleet, making it the newest force to bring all-electric power to his law enforcement effort.
It's been a long process, Leak said in an interview with Teslarati earlier this month. It took a lot of work and calls, but in the end everything went as it should have been. “I did a lot of research by reading a series of articles and then reaching out to agencies to find out who had Teslas in their fleet,” Leak told us. He started with the Fremont, Westport, Bargersville, and Hastings-on-Hudson divisions, all of which have Tesla vehicles added to their fleet. Fremont has a Model S, Westport and Bargersville have a Model 3, and Hastings-on-Hudson would run the same model as Boulder: a Model Y Long Range.
Credit: Sgt.Tonleck of Boulder PD
Credit: Sgt.Tonleck of Boulder PD
Credit: Sgt.Tonleck of Boulder PD
The process then seemed to make sense as the financial figures were well suited for presentation to the local commissioners, who would ultimately have the final say. “I spoke to our in-house fleet manager and kept the mileage, fueling, maintenance and service records for our fleet,” said Leak. He didn't think it was going to be a very difficult process of persuading, since the fuel and maintenance cost reductions swayed toward the Model Y interceptor, it wasn't a game. The Model Y was about five times as inexpensive as the typical police cruiser. In addition, the sustainability factor was another big plus when buying the Model Y.
“Boulder County has always strived to be environmentally friendly in all of our activities, and we continue that commitment by being one of the first, if not the first law enforcement agencies in the state of Colorado to add a Tesla Model Y to our patrol fleet,” wrote the Department.
Model Y could save the department money within six months, according to a media release the department released earlier this week. After the Command Officers agreed with Leak's calculations and ideas for adding a sustainable member of the fleet, it went to the Boulder County Commissioners who eventually approved the project and approved the purchase.
“I think taxpayers will be happy to hear that this new vehicle is saving money,” said Leak. “It will take time, but it will be less expensive than the gas-powered vehicles we have now.”
Then came the fun part of installing the necessary police gear inside the car and putting stickers on the Model Y. “We worked with Tesla because some things just didn't fit,” says Leak. He described how the programs the Boulder PD uses are Windows-based, while the Model Y's center dashboard is HTML-based. This made it necessary to install a patrol laptop, which is also present in normal cruisers.
The ministry said in its press release:
“The vehicle has official Boulder County Sheriff's Office decals and a full set of emergency equipment like those used in many of our other vehicles. It is used primarily for traffic surveillance, although it is rigorously tested to investigate its potential for other uses in the sheriff's office. Our research included the investigation of EV offers from other manufacturers, which, however, were ultimately excluded from consideration due to significantly higher prices, lack of availability and / or specifications that did not meet our requirements. We are open to reconsidering them in the future as the EV market expands. “
Credit: Sgt.Tonleck of Boulder PD
The ministry expects the vehicle to travel at least 500,000 miles. However, Boulder PD wants to increase the sustainability of the Model Y Cruiser by offsetting electricity costs with solar panels.
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