Durango Police Department can now patrol hard-to-reach areas within city limits more efficiently.
That is thanks to the addition of a new Polaris Ranger 1000. The utility-terrain vehicle will be used for the department’s park ranger program to easily access terrain and trails that officers have previously been unable to easily access.
DPD Cmdr. Nick Stasi said the vehicle has been a game-changer for patrolling areas like Horse Gulch and the Animas River Trail during the two weeks since the vehicle went into service.
Often, DPD park rangers would use mountain bikes to patrol such areas, but once the winter arrives that no longer makes sense.
“We don't expect them to be using a mountain bike in the middle of winter,” Stasi said. “And so this gives them an opportunity to still patrol some open space areas with a vehicle that is kind of built for their job in mind.”
The ranger program started two years ago as a way to lighten the burden on patrol officers by allowing rangers to respond to some of the more mundane calls, Stasi said.
During a La Plata Economic Development Alliance meeting last week, DPD Police Chief Brice Current said Durango is a small city with big-city problems.
He said the police department receives about 100 calls for service per day and has 58 officers on the force.
More than just crime prevention, the utility-terrain vehicle will allow the police department to assist in the rescue of injured hikers in town and clean up trash along trails. The UTV is a six-seater vehicle, which provides medics room to help an injured individual if needed.
It has heating and windows that close so park rangers can use the vehicles in the winter. It also has a truck bed where rangers can store trash and equipment. The vehicle can top out at 70 to 80 mph and has a 100-horsepower engine.
“It's just kind of the perfect purpose-built vehicle for the rangers to get all of the areas that we asked them to patrol,” Stasi said.
The side-by-side cost $35,000. The park rangers have other modes of transportation like a pontoon raft for patrolling the river, an e-bike and a pickup truck.
“They're constantly going to areas where our sworn officers are not able to go,” Stasi said. “And they've been a huge assistance to us in keeping our open spaces safe for all of our community members.”
It is the second new vehicle addition to the department this year. In February, DPD purchased 14 brand-new Hybrid Ford F-150 trucks. It was part of an initiative to replace the force’s Chevy Tahoes because of mechanical failures resulting from age.
tbrown@durangoherald.com
