Helena, Montana Police Department buys their first hybrid patrol car

Ford announced this model of part electric and part fuel for police cars this year, according to the Helena Police Department. They spent the last two months test-driving the vehicle. The lieutenant in charge of purchasing says the department already noticed a fuel mileage increase of five to six gallons, which will save money long term.

“When it comes to fuel consumption, that’s a huge, huge budget item on us,” says Jayson Zander, HPD Lieutenant. “We got a lot of police cars running around all day long, everyday and so one of our biggest expenses is fuel. So, anything we can do to cut down on that, saves us money, saves the taxpayers money.”