On Friday afternoon, Ector County Sheriff Mike Griffis showed off 21 new patrol units that will join the Ector County Sheriff’s Office.
The patrol units are 2022 Chevrolet Tahoes that feature a white paint job with blue and yellow lettering. There is also a black grille guard mounted on each one. The cost for the 21 patrol units was $1.5 million.
ECSO’s newest patrol units will also serve as take-home vehicles for deputies — an incentive that was previously offered to a limited number of people working at ECSO.
Griffis explained the take-home option is a great recruiting and retention tool for the sheriff’s office.
“People can take pride in their own unit because they know this is their unit and they will take better care of it,” Griffis said. “We were the only ones in this area that didn’t have take-home units.”
Griffis said he expects at least four of the 21 units to be in the streets next week. He said the others will be on patrol as soon as they are finished being equipped with docking stations, dash cam and other necessities.
Griffis explained there are patrol units on the streets now that have 150,000 to 200,000 miles.
“They are driven pretty hard, so these new units will be more dependable,” Griffis said.
Currently, ECSO patrol units have a silver paint job and blue and yellow lettering.
The white paint job was the only option for the sheriff’s office. Griffis said if the sheriff’s office waited for different colored patrol units it would be at least another year before they would have been delivered to ECSO.
“I think (the new units) look great,” Griffis said. “I really do.”
Griffis said one patrol unit can be used by four different people throughout the week.
With the new patrol units, Griffis said he hopes it lifts the morale of deputies at ECSO.
“If you have happy employees, you have happy customers,” Griffis said. “Everything we do we have the desired end result to protect our community.
“If our deputies are happy with where they are working, they are going to do a good job for our good people.”
