AEDC security driving electric, low-speed vehicle

  • Published
  • By Philip Lorenz III
  • AEDC/PA
ARNOLD AIR FORCE BASE, Tenn. --  The AEDC Police Department recently acquired an electric, low-speed vehicle for use exclusively in the mission area for transporting officers and their equipment to and from testing facilities and bringing officers to relieve those who man the complex's gates.

Buck Young, AEDC Police Department combat arms training manager, said he had been tasked by his leadership to find a low-cost vehicle that would relieve his department from needing to use their existing fleet vehicles for other than the most pressing mission-essential uses.

"A few months back, Rick [Trull, the ATA Emergency Services Branch manager] asked me to look into finding a low speed vehicle that would provide us with an alternative to using our existing fleet for things like emergency response calls out of the ground testing business area of Arnold AFB, mutual aid response requests and transportation out of the area for meetings and training off base," Young said.

With budgets becoming more restricted and assets being limited, Young started his search for a vehicle that would fit his department's needs.

"We did a little bit of legwork and I looked at some options [like] the low-speed vehicle that we got, and a couple of others, but I didn't think they [the other vehicles] would have fit our needs," he said. "[Finally,] I told the people up at logistics that it was going to be something that wouldn't use [conventional] fuel, would have straight power, low speed - basically, it's just an electric golf cart, but a little bit longer, with bigger seats."

Young added, "We're using this electric vehicle primarily for testing-related purposes. If we've got a test going on at 10V, instead of one of my officers coming and going in a patrol car that might be needed to go out on the road, they can get into the electric cart and go over to 10V or J-6 or wherever they've got to go. They can relieve the officer who is there and they can drive it back. It's not something that's going to ever see the outside of the mission area. It's perfect for posting our guys back and forth to the gates. [If] the chief needs to run up to the A&E Building for a meeting, he can hop in. We're not tying up a necessary vehicle that would be needed out on patrol or if somebody's got to go to Nashville or Chattanooga. It fits the bill."