Cramerton Police add Special Response Vehicle to Fleet

Cramerton Police took delivery today of a 1998 Freightliner F160 truck which will be added to their fleet.  The former Gaston Emergency Medical Services ambulance will be used by the department as a multi-purpose special response vehicle.  The vehicle was purchased as surplus property from Gaston County Government for $1.  “We requested the surplus vehicle from county administrators over a year ago and was graciously awarded the vehicle by county commissioners early this year” said Cramerton Police Chief Greg Ratchford.

     The vehicle will be stocked with supplies for traffic control response, community crime prevention programs and as a mobile command post.  The department has also agreed to respond the unit to incidents where it is needed by the town’s fire department.  “We saw a tremendous need for this type of vehicle in late 2004 when a tractor-trailer knocked down all of the traffic lights on Wilkinson Boulevard at Lakewood Road,” Ratchford said. 

      After initially receiving the vehicle from county government the department dropped the vehicle off at Freightliner in Mount Holly for what department officials thought would be a change in color from the original ambulance white to a more appropriate police blue.  “We contacted Freightliner when we were notified that we were definitely getting the vehicle. They agreed to help us out by painting it” Ratchford said.

     What was returned to the department by Freightliner today was much more than a paint job.  “To be perfectly honest we were blown away by the work they did,” said Cramerton Police Captain Chris Baxter.  “We certainly could not have afforded to bring the truck to this level of quality.  The work done by Freightliner employees was phenomenal and certainly more than we anticipated,” Ratchford said. 

     Tom Robertson, director of production at the Mount Holly Freightliner plant, agreed to take the truck on as a project at no cost to the department.  “We do about three or four community projects like this a year,” Robertson told the Gaston Gazette.  Robertson estimated the work done by Freightliner as at least $10,000.