Arkansas law enforcement upgrading vehicles with a new look inside and out

HARRISON, Ark. (KY3) - The Boone County Sheriff’s Department installed new computers in patrol vehicles to improve officer efficiency and safety. This comes just after the Arkansas State Police announced a new fleet of low-profile patrol cars that will begin patrolling Arkansas roads.

Since Chief Deputy Roy Martin started at the Boone County Sheriff’s Office nearly a year-and-a-half ago, he’s been working to better the department’s presence. The latest move will hopefully do just that.

”We’ve got 25 new computers and all the equipment that goes with them, it’s a real good tool for our guys,” said Martin. “At times we had to come back to the station to do paperwork, pulling someone off the streets for possibly an hour. That work can be done on the side of the road.”

“All of our reports, all of our incident reports, traffic incidents, all that can all be done in the car,” said Sgt. Cameron Pace, who has been with the department for over seven years. “So, with having that ability we can have our guys out being seen by the public more often.”

Pace went on to explain the importance of extended presence saying that being around more can “subconsciously deter acts by criminals.”

The Boone County Sheriff, Tim Roberson, is working with Martin to install a new mobile network that would allow any information from patrol cars to be automatically relayed to the station.

“We don’t have it installed yet, but once we do that will only increase the benefits we get from this,” said Martin., who appreciates the added safety. ”If they’re pulling over a vehicle they can run that tag. It may come back stolen or it could bring back something that lets them know something may be bad in that car.“

Arkansas State Police announced they’re going to be deploying a new fleet low-profile cruisers in order to help curb an increase in traffic violations. The vehicles are solid in color, and the state police logo is only on the passenger side.

It’s part of an effort to address rising traffic concerns and enforce new laws such as cruising in the left hand passing lane. The fleet is made up of Chevy Tahoe models to provide troopers with better visual perspectives. Some are referring the new cars as the incognito fleet because they appear like regular vehicles to someone passing by, especially when compared to the recognizable white sedan with blue stripes and state police markings driven currently.

”With traffic right now, there’s so much traffic on the roadways,” said Cpl. Justin Ricketts of Troop I. “We aren’t just out to write tickets, we want to educate drivers on the laws and make the road a safer place.”

Both agencies say upgrades are a part of continuing to serve as best as possible. The Arkansas State Police expect the new fleet to be out in full force by September 29.

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