The village of Bethel recently donated one of its retired police cruisers to the Grant Career Center for repairs by students in the school’s Automotive Technology class and reuse by the Criminal Justice program. Pictured, from left, are Automotive Technology students Brandon Kidd and Brandon Bush, both seniors at the school.

The village of Bethel recently donated one of its retired police cruisers to the Grant Career Center for repairs by students in the school’s Automotive Technology class and reuse by the Criminal Justice program. Pictured, from left, are Automotive Technology students Brandon Kidd and Brandon Bush, both seniors at the school.
By Megan Alley
Sun staff

Students at Grant Career Center are breathing new life into a retired police cruiser that was recently donated to the vocational school by the village of Bethel.

The 2007 Crown Victoria, also known as cruiser 501, was previously owned by the Bethel Police Department.

The council agreed to donate the cruiser, which councilman James Rees deemed “in dire need of repair,” during its Oct. 13 meeting so that students in the school’s Automotive Technology class can gain experience by working on it before turning it over to the school’s Criminal Justice program for field training.

“I think the car will do well for them for that,” Mayor Alan Ausman said during the meeting.

The “scrap car” was appraised at less than $1,000, and all the valuable equipment was removed prior to the donation.

“Honestly, I like [the plan] because…some of the kids going through the Criminal Justice program could possibly one day become one of our part-time officers, so I think it’s the village investing back into our [local] communities, so I think it’s really cool,” Janice Ireton said during the meeting.

The cruiser was delivered to the school nearly three weeks ago, though it was only recently brought into the school’s garage for mechanical repairs.

Jason Akers, Automotive Technology instructor, said the village’s generosity means a lot to the class, in which 16 students, both juniors and seniors, are currently enrolled.

“I wasn’t really surprised; Bethel has obviously been very supportive to us,” he said, adding, “The benefit of doing jobs like this, versus wrenching on school cars, is that they get the sense of accomplishment; they can sit here and work on a car that doesn’t move all day long, and that doesn’t give them the same sense of accomplishment, like I said, as fixing something and actually seeing it roll out the door just like a customer’s car.”

Akers noted the added benefit the students will have of working on a police cruiser.

“It’s good experience. It’s not something they get to mess with much,” he said. “They were all excited about it as soon as it came in, playing with the lights and the sirens, the spotlight; every one of them, I think, got in the back seat like they were prisoners.”

Akers shared the laundry list of repairs the cruiser will need before it’s returned to working order.

“It has exhaust problems, it’s got some brake problems, we’re not sure because we haven’t gotten into the diagnosis of it,” he said. “The brake lights are on, the check engine light is on, so it’s obviously got some engine problems as well.”

Akers expects the students to finish repairing the car within the next couple of months, after which it will go to the school’s auto collision department to have the existing decals removed and replaced with the logo for the Criminal Justice program.

Automotive Technology student Brandon Kidd, a senior at the school and a resident of the village of New Richmond, spoke about the donation.

“It’s nice; it’s cool,” he said, adding that he’s most looking forward to getting the car out of the garage.

“That’s our main thing…getting it to Criminal Justice, let them have their car,” he finished.

Doug Flamm is the Criminal Justice instructor; 34 high school juniors and seniors are currently enrolled in the program, which teaches students the foundations of the American criminal justice system.

He said the donation means a lot to the program, which has never had a cruiser.

“It allows me to do traffic related things that are required in our curriculum,” Flamm said.

In the past, students had to use their own cars to facilitate traffic stops and other procedures.

“Financially, this donation saves us quite a bit,” Flamm said. “This is my fourth year, and we have been looking off and on for a cruiser, and a lot of them have been out of the price range of thousands of dollars and we didn’t just didn’t have the money to purchase one.”

He added, “To get one donated from the Bethel Police Department saves us money, and it is a tremendous asset for us.”

Flamm’s students are excited about working with the cruiser.

“They can’t wait to get in it. They think they’re going to be driving it all over the place, and pursuit driving and such; they like to play with all the bells and whistles,’ he said.

For exclusive photos of Grant students working on the cruiser, pick up a copy of the Nov. 24 edition of The Clermont Sun.