Carbon Blog
Out of Service
I recall going through my patrol vehicle checklist one morning after roll call. All the standard stuff: oil, tire pressure, body damage, contraband sweep, etc. When I flipped on the emergency lights, the entire left side of my light bar was out! We’ve all been there, so I was noticeably annoyed about the chain of events that I knew were about to transpire. I notified dispatch that I was going out of service (before I ever even called “in service”) and headed to the city garage. By the way, this meant that another officer from the previous shift would now have to stay over (on overtime) to cover my beat at our taxpayers’ expense.
Upon arrival at the shop, the mechanic who normally tended to my vehicle proceeded to take apart my light bar in order to diagnose the problem. No loose wires or obvious mechanical or electrical issues were found. So he informed me he could not fix the problem, and that I needed to take my vehicle over to our lighting supplier to have them resolve the issue.
Twenty miles and thirty-five minutes later, I arrived at the supplier’s location. They tinkered around with it for a half hour or so, ran a few tests and then advised me that it was a faulty wiring harness provided by the new car dealer who sold us our vehicles – and where do you think they pointed me to? You guessed it! Off to the dealer I went.
Twenty-five miles and forty minutes back in the opposite direction I headed. I pulled my patrol vehicle into the service bay and described the problem and my morning trek (so far!!). They eagerly began working to fix the problem that was so obviously theirs… but wait! “There’s nothing wrong with your wiring harness,” the nice man told me. “When we unplugged the light bar, everything tested out just fine. There is a problem with your light bar.”
AUGHH!!! I’ve already wasted three hours of my day, another two hours of overtime for the officer who was covering my shift, and STILL NO WORKING LIGHTS! Aren’t I supposed to be patrolling the community and keeping people safe? I don’t recall the taxpayers signing off on ‘vehicle maintenance and repair’ as part of my job description. If only the public really new the truth about how our First Responders are treated across the country. If only there was a purpose-built vehicle made specifically for law enforcement with all emergency equipment integrated from the manufacturing facility, then I could have had one-stop accountability. Imagine 24-7-365 customer service. Imagine having someone focused on our vehicle downtime and letting us do our real jobs. And no more finger-pointing allowed!
Stand by everyone – Carbon Motors is on the way!!!
Tagged: carbon motors, american automaker, e7, stacy, stephens, service, public safety, patrol, purpose built law enforcement patrol vehicle, police car, police cars, police, cop, cops, cop car, cop cars
Comments
I would probably have to say that the largest problem that anyone has is that they buy their police cars in parts. We've been selling completed Police vehicles since we've won the state contract here in Texas in 2005. Buying your car from the dealer completely done from top to bottom is the right way to do things. Carbon Motors has the right idea. I like many others await the final product and pricing.
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