Manteca Police have taken delivery of five new and fully quipped Dodge Durango patrol vehicles.

And when five new and fully equipped Chevy Tahoe patrol units arrive in the coming weeks, the department will have added 20 new police vehicles within a year’s time.

And it is thanks in a large part to passage of the Measure Q, the 20-year three-quarter cent sales tax voters approved in November 2024.

Altogether, there will be 15 new patrol vehicles. Ten will be Dodge Durango SUVs and five will be Chevy Tahoe SUVs.

The remaining five are unmarked vehicles.

The City Council, in keeping with promises made during the campaign that led to passage of the temporary 20-year Measure Q three-quarter cent sales tax, included $1.6 million in the current fiscal year budget for police vehicles.

That is in addition to $510,000 earmarked in January 2025 to order five of the 10 Durango SUVs Manteca Police will receive.

Those five Durangos were not delivered until late spring of last year due to the lead time to secure and equip vehicles meeting police specifications as well as to outfit them.

The $510,000, along with $1.1 million for a replacement fire engine, was earmarked in January 2025 on the fact voters had passed the tax. The money was taken from reserves and will be backfilled with Measure Q receipts.

The $1.6 million was considered one-time Measure Q funding.

Going forward, city management is establishing a more robust vehicle replacement program so several police vehicles can be replaced annually as they start becoming problematic due to repairs.

The fully equipped Durango police units cost $110,00 each while the Chevy Tahoes are $120,000 apiece.

When all 15 new patrol units are in Manteca, those that have started to have problematic maintenance issues with excess of 150,000 miles on them will be removed from service.

Manteca eventually will end up with around 30 patrol units after taking delivery of all of the vehicles and culling ones that are now problematic.

The department 18 months ago had a situation where it wasn’t uncommon for police shifts to be short one — and on rare occasions two — patrol units.

They either were already in the shop or they wouldn’t turn on when officers got behind the wheel to start their shifts.

That forced officers to double up.

In term, it reduced the area the police could cover.

While the Ford F-150 pickup patrol units are effective, the department opted not to add to the ones they have given they have a wider turn radius than the SUVs.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com