Department received fleet upgrade via donation
Photo by David Kapitan
Officer Aaron Long and K9 officer Zeus posed with the 2009 Ford Crown Victoria vehicle donated to the WPPD by the Grand Prairie Police Department free of charge. The vehicle came fully equipped with equipment to operate a K9 on a daily basis.
Since coming into service in 2016, the most recent iteration of the Wills Point Police Department’s K9 program has been a major boon to the community, directly leading to drugs being taken off the streets and numerous criminals being put behind bars.
Due to the efforts of city councilman Lance LyBrand and Grand Praire Police Chief Steve Dye, the local K9 program was made even more formidable last week with the addition of a fully equipped 2009 Ford Crown Victoria to the WPPD fleet at no charge to taxpayers.
Wills Point K9 officer Aaron Long explained, “The city of Wills Point is extremely lucky that councilmember Lance LyBrand is also a Grand Prairie Police officer who was able to make this happen for the city and community. LyBrand happened to make contact with Grand Prairie’s lead K9 officer one day and found that they were going to take the Crown Victoria out of service being it was a backup vehicle they no longer needed due to recently acquiring new vehicles for the department.
“As we all know, vehicles are expensive these days - let alone a fully equipped police vehicle. With Grand Prairie donating this vehicle to us, it has saved the city of Wills Point and the taxpayers of Wills Point thousands upon thousands of dollars. The current average cost of a police vehicle ranges from $30,000-$75,000 not including any extras such as K9 equipment that could potentially add another $3,000-$8,000.
