Police chief has a wish list
By Terry Murry on Tuesday, February 1st, 2022 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PILOT ROCK – Pilot Rock Police Chief Bill Caldera said the city does all it can to support his department. One thing he needs are newer police vehicles.
“We’re looking at some pretty old patrol cars that we’re driving around,” he said. “One vehicle is 19 years old and the other ones are more than 10 year sold and have more than 90,000 miles on them,” he said. “That is a major thing that we’re trying to look at.”
He said the city council is aware of the department’s needs and is trying to find affordable vehicles. The chief said they don’t have to be brand new, just newer with lower mileage. As for technology, Caldera’s department already has body cameras, but he’d like to move it up a notch and add mobile videos to their cars.
“The city council has been wonderful as far as them giving us money,” he said. “They are really supportive of the police department.”
He’d also like an additional officer. The money is budgeted for that, but a candidate has been difficult to find. He said with inexperienced officers, it takes almost a year of training before they can solo, and then they tend to move on to bigger departments with bigger salaries.
