Finding used vehicles for small PD

[TeayotaSoupra]

I'm on the hunt for a new K9 vehicle for my small department. I know we won't be able to convince the mayor to buy a brand new vehicle this year and honestly the K9 vehicle doesn't need to be new.

Does anyone have anymore ideas of places I could look into? I called the bigger county department around here but they don't have any road worthy vehicles they are taking off the road. And most departments around here don't retire vehicles until they absolutely have to.
So I'm trying to think of bigger cities/counties that retire vehicles early mostly because of milage. (East coast)
I browsed govdeals but they don't have much listed as far as good looking police vehicles go. Not to mention we'd prefer something 4wd or AWD. But honestly I'd present anything and everything.

[just joe]

I used to work for a dept that purchased state patrol cruisers that were rotated out of their fleet. Anything like that where you are at?

This may sound kind of corny, but if you have a good relationship with your citizens, look into some type of fundraiser/chicken roast or something. Have the county animal shelter bring in some dogs for adoption. Have an animal control officer set up a dog registration table, see if the ASPCA wants a table, etc. People love dogs. Get the local media involved. Maybe a bounce house and a snow cone machine... See if any local veteranians or kennels would like to advertise or set up a table in exchange for a donation to the cruiser fund. Do some K9 demonstrations. There are a lot of creative things you can do with this to raise funds and turn it into a community/police event.

[Guest]

This may sound kind of corny, but if you have a good relationship with your citizens, look into some type of fundraiser/chicken roast or something. Have the county animal shelter bring in some dogs for adoption. Have an animal control officer set up a dog registration table, see if the ASPCA wants a table, etc. People love dogs. Get the local media involved. Maybe a bounce house and a snow cone machine... See if any local veteranians or kennels would like to advertise or set up a table in exchange for a donation to the cruiser fund. Do some K9 demonstrations. There are a lot of creative things you can do with this to raise funds and turn it into a community/police event.

A neighboring city to my old PD did this. They made enough for a brand new Tahoe with a really nice cage and temperature sensors that turns the vehicle on when it gets too hot or cold inside for the dog.

[Iowa #1603]

I think the Kansas Highway Patrol has a used vehicle program

[So Fla Cop]

Does WV have a WV Chief's Association with email for members? In Florida donation requests happen all the time between governments. Also check PropertyRoom.com

[VA Dutch]

Check with Southwest Police Supply - which sells high-quality used (reconditioned) police cruisers to the public AND to other agencies. They are located in Texas.

http://www.swps.net

http://www.swps.com/used-police-cars---vehicles.html

[TeayotaSoupra]

Thanks guys!! I'll look into it all. Our town is A LOT like Mayberry. Although we don't even have one stop light... I went from a busy city to a town where everyone already knows my name and they all wave.
I'm sure fundraising may work if chief and the mayor would be ok with it.