Last week, the Middletown Board of Supervisors approved spending more than $270,000 for several upgrades for the police department.
The department received approval to purchase three new marked Ford Interceptors Utility SUVs, two 2020 marked Dodge Durango SUVs, and a marked Ford Transit van for the animal control officer. The township also plans to mark an presently unmarked 2019 Dodge Durango already in the fleet, according to police Chief Joseph Bartorilla.
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The cost for the vehicles is $238,807.29, which are almost entirely covered by Redevelopment Authority of Bucks County grant funds. The township is responsible for a $214.29 charge that goes above funds provided through the grant.
Bartorilla said the new vehicles will help “modernize” the patrol fleet, including replacing a vehicle from 2008 and the aging animal control car that is limping along.
The police department will spend $36,881.40 in township funds to purchase about 30 new X26P Taser nonlethal weapons as part of an upgrade program.
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The purchase will complete the department’s transition from the 10-year-old X26 Tasers to the newer model, Bartorilla said, noting about 15 of the older models were replaced last year.
The chief said that X26 parts and batteries are no longer sold.
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Newswire Reuters reported in 2017 that Taser quietly stopped making the X26 after concerns that its charge could be dangerous after it was linked to deaths. However, Taser denied that its X26 model was dangerous.
Also at the meeting last week, Supervisors voted to upgrade network switches and 47 six-year-old desktop computers and running on the out of date Windows 7 operating system at a price of $51,000, about $4,000 under budget.
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