Troy Police to acquire three cars

The Troy police department will be receiving three new patrol cars this fall thanks to a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture.

“We were looking to get one car and a member of the USDA contacted me and told me that we would likely qualify for the rural development grant,” Tracy Rebo, Troy’s city clerk, said. “I started doing the paperwork and after a long process we got approved. The grant is for right around $50,000 and will be used to purchase three new police cars. The city will be paying for one and we will receive three. We are expecting to get them at some point in October.”

Darren Coldwell, the Mayor of Troy, said that signing the final contract for the grant was a long, but worthwhile process.

“It took an hour to sign the contracts last Thursday,” Coldwell said. “Tracy did a great job with this. It’s exciting news for the city of Troy.”

Rebo said she was excited to break the news to Troy’s Chief of Police, Robert McLeod.

“I was pretty excited to tell him the news,” she said. “I told Bob to come in because I had something important to tell him. I told him that we know you wanted one car, but you won’t be getting that. You could tell he was pretty disappointed. I then told him that he would be getting three cars thanks to the rural development grant.”

McLeod said he was shocked when Rebo told him the good news.

“It came as a total surprise to me,” McLeod said. “I had budgeted for one patrol car. I had no idea our city clerk and our mayor were working hard behind my back to purchase three cars for the police department.”

McLeod said he wasn’t sure why he was getting called to the city office the day he received the news.

“I wasn’t sure what I was getting into,” he said. “They told me to get down to the office right away and I got down there and there was a guy standing there. I thought they were maybe having an issue with him, so I kept my eye on him. Tracy told me the car I was budgeting for wasn’t going to happen. I was disappointed and was wondering what happened and why I wasn’t going to be able to get a new patrol car. She then told me I was going to be getting three new cars thanks to a grant she had been working on. I thought she was teasing me. When I found out it was real it hit me hard. I became very emotional. I started giving hugs to everybody in the office and I thought the guy standing there was part of it and I went to give him a hug, well it turned out he was just there to pay his water bill.”

After receiving the news, McLeod called a special meeting with his two officers at the Mayor’s office.

“When we thought we were getting just one car my officers were adamant about me taking the new car,” he said. “After I received the news, I called a special meeting at the Mayor’s office with Tracy and Darren. I brought them in and they had no idea what they were there for. They probably thought they were in trouble. I told them that after giving it some thought that I was going to take the new car. They both told me that I should and that I deserved it. I told them that thanks to Tracy and Darren that they were going to be getting new cars too. It was an awesome meeting. There were hugs and high-fives; it was just an awesome moment. We are so grateful and excited.”

McLeod said the police department is grateful for the work that the city officials did for the department.

“I’m very grateful,” he said. “We are such a small department. It means so much to my officers and me. When something breaks down we fix it. We make things last a little longer. Our wildest dreams didn’t include three new patrol cars. We haven’t received a new car since 2006.”

McLeod said he takes pride in his department’s patrol cars.

“I take a lot of pride in the patrol cars here,” he said. “I design the graphics. I have a company that builds the logos. I build them and I take a lot of pride in that. To know that we are getting three new cars is very exciting. Words can’t describe how much it means to me. It came as a total surprise and we are excited to get the new patrol cars here in Troy.”