Council Approves 3 New Cars for Police

The city of Ventura will spend up to $60,000 to outfit the Police Department with three new cars to be used primarily as surveillance vehicles.

The City Council approved the expenditure Monday night. The money for the cars will come out of the city’s assets seizure fund, a $280,000 account generated by assets confiscated and forfeited from drug arrests.

The cost of purchasing the cars is expected to be partly offset by the sale of three vehicles now used in undercover police operations.

Those cars, valued at $25,500 and used by the department for more than three years, will be sold at auction, according to a city report.

Replacement vehicles for the Police Department’s special investigations unit are needed, the report says, because over time cars used in undercover investigations often become recognizable, potentially putting officers at risk.