Let’s Hope Used Vehicles Are Not Lemons…

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Minister of National Security Robert Montague announced that the admin­is­tra­tion will be pur­chas­ing used cars for the Jamaica Constabulary Force.
According to JAMAICAN media, Montague said used cars will be pur­chased in an effort to cap­i­tal­ize on the lim­it­ed finan­cial resources avail­able to pur­chase vehi­cles for the force.
He said instead of pur­chas­ing 100 new vehi­cles, the min­istry will be able to buy 400 used cars for the same price. The Security Minister also said the used vehi­cles should be able to serve the force for at least three years.

I hope there is a cer­ti­fi­ca­tion process in place before these vehi­cles are secured. I won­dered whether a bet­ter arrange­ment could’t be arrived at by hav­ing the cars made and retro­fit­ted by General motors with a view to hav­ing access to more afford­able spare parts . I under­stand that this process would require top lev­el dis­cus­sions , but it can be done on an annu­al basis .So instead of say 100 vehi­cles arriv­ing each year there could be fifty well fit­ted vehi­cles arriv­ing each year . This could be built into the bud­get. I think this would poten­tial­ly be a bet­ter arrange­ment both finan­cial­ly and the depart­ment would have a fresh­er fleet of vehi­cles going forward.

The Jamaican ter­rain offers tremen­dous chal­lenges as it relates to the longevi­ty of the vehi­cles. On that basis I believe sourc­ing vehi­cles from an American com­pa­ny like General Motors would offer some ben­e­fits as it relates to the price of spare parts as well as ensur­ing a fresh­er new­er fleet of vehicles.
I fun­da­men­tal­ly believe that hav­ing the vehi­cles on an annu­al draw-down basis, prop­er­ly retro­fit­ted in less­er quan­ti­ties offers a bet­ter way for­ward. In the same breadth it is refresh­ing to see that the actions of the Administration inso­far as mas­sive expen­di­tures are con­cerned are done in a trans­par­ent and open way.
Even if the man­u­fac­tur­ers are not respon­si­ble for prop­er­ly retro­fitting police depart­ment vehi­cles it is not out of Government’s reach to begin the process of retro­fitting police vehi­cles professionally.

If the poten­tial 400 used vehi­cles are not cer­ti­fied pre-owned the idea may amount to a night­mare rather than a poten­tial bright idea. I trust this admin­is­tra­tion will have the good sense to ensure the Island is not acquir­ing 400 lemons, but cer­ti­fied used vehi­cles which will with­stand the chal­lenges of the Jamaican terrain.
Going for­ward I believe the idea I offer here rep­re­sent the best path for­ward over a 5 ‑10 year peri­od. The police depart­ment stand to poten­tial­ly be brought up to speed in terms of mobile strength, fresh­ness of the fleet and a fleet which is rep­re­sen­ta­tive of what a mod­ern police force deserve.

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