Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department pausing vehicle lease plan

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) – The Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department is having to tap the brakes on a plan to modernize its fleet.

The law of supply and demand is stalling the law enforcement agency’s vehicle lease agreement.

The Sheriff’s Office entered into a contract with Enterprise that would have replaced one-third of the cruiser fleet this year.

But Enterprise and other companies are having difficulty getting enough vehicles to meet customer demand, due to manufacturer cutbacks in production.

Without the new rides, Sheriff Eddie Hawkins is having to put some units out that would have otherwise been parked.

“We have a number of our vehicles in our fleet that we were looking at ‘deadlining’ and not replacing because we were planning on utilizing new vehicles. Well, now that the new vehicles are not coming in in a timely manner, we’re having to go back and repair some of these older vehicles to keep them rolling on the streets, so we can respond to incidents here in the county,” said Sheriff Eddie Hawkins.

Some of those vehicles are 9 and 10 model years old, and some have had to have engine replacements to keep them in service.