University of Wisconsin-Superior Public Safety will soon have a brand-new vehicle to patrol campus; a replacement due largely in part to mechanical issues with the current service vehicle.

The current vehicle, a 2005 Chevrolet Impala which many students have come to recognize, will be replaced with a 2011 four-wheel drive Chevrolet Tahoe. According to Gary Gulbrandson, the Director of the Department of Public Safety, there have been a number of problems with the current public safety vehicle that have been the driving force behind getting a new vehicle.

“[The current vehicle] has over 100,000 miles...It's past the state replacement guidelines,” Gulbrandson said. “Since I started here about twenty months ago we've had a lot of problems with the current vehicle.” These problems have resulted in a new transmission, starter, ignition, brake system and  axel, among other things.

An added perk of having a four-wheel drive vehicle is that Public Safety will be able to patrol campus in all types of weather. With the current vehicle, officers have often had to park it when it couldn't travel through the winter weather due to it being a lower, lighter car.

Although the new Tahoe is a sport utility vehicle, which are notoriously known as “gas guzzlers”, Gulbrandson says he does not expect much of a difference between vehicles as far as mileage goes.

“Most of the use [the vehicles get] is low-speed driving and idling,” Gulbrandson explained. “When we patrol campus we're driving through parking lots going fifteen miles an hour...all of the starting and stopping isn't energy efficient either.”

Gulbrandson says they hope to have the new vehicle in service by the end of the month. It is currently undergoing assembly and body work; instead of the same look, however, the new vehicle will feature stripes and the officer shoulder patch, as well as the emergency and non-emergency numbers for Public Safety. Also, with a new yellow-on-black color scheme, it's “going to look sharp”, as Gulbrandson puts it.

“Most of the officers are pretty excited about it because of all the problems with the other vehicle,” he said. “I guess the best way to put it is that we're looking forward to it.”