County Commissioners approved the purchase of four new patrol vehicles for the Saline County Sheriff’s department this morning.

Sheriff Roger Soldan appeared in front of the commissioners this morning, following up on the request that was made earlier this month. “We had the budget to purchase four new vehicles this year. We went over to the county commission this morning to get approval for the four new Police Interceptor SUVs,” Soldan said.

Last year the commissioners approved the purchase of two patrol vehicles and two transport vehicles. Sheriff Soldan said they base their request on what they feel is needed most. According to Soldan, there are ten vehicles in the fleet that are ten years or older. They also have a dozen vehicles with over 100,000 miles.

The new Police Interceptors will be purchased from Long McArthur. According to Soldan, the research center puts out bid specifications that are sent to area dealerships and posted online. The bid includes the trade in values of the four vehicles that will be replaced.

Sheriff Soldan says the department will replace as much as they can with the budget but housing inmates is the department’s biggest problem right now.