Meeting on Monday night, Boardman Township Trustees recognized by proclamation the efforts of longtime fleet manager of the more than 50 vehicles used by the township’s police department.
      Mike Carkido, who has maintained the police department’s marked and unmarked vehicles for the past 14 years, was recognized after being named to the Ford Motor Co. Police Advisory Board.
      The elite, 18-member board provides recommendations to the auto company on the unique concerns of law enforcement in the safety, reliability and costs associated with the manufacture police vehicles.
      In receiving the recognition, Carkido told Trustees that his job is ‘to protect the protectors.”
      The township’s fleet of police vehicles includes some 25 cruisers and 25 unmarked units.
      New cruisers are ordered as ‘shells,’ and delivered to Carkido, who then outfits the cars, installing everything from light bars, emblems, and computers, and thousands of feet of electrical wiring.
      “The most important aspect of my job is to make the cruisers as safe as I can for our police officers. Their safety is my foremost concern,” Carkido said.
      Police cruisers have special upholstery, what Carkido says is a massive brake system, and large engine coolers.
      “The heavy duty brakes are required for liability reasons. A feature called ‘Stablitrack’ can determine when the cars lose traction and then independently make corrections,” Carkido said.
      “Our police officers average about 3,000 miles a month per cruiser patrolling the township, and we get four-to-five-years of service with each cruiser.
      “So it is important they are properly maintained,” Carkido said.
      Police Chief Jack Nichols told Trustees that Carkido’s knowledge of police cars “has gained him a reputation among law enforcement agencies throughout northeastern Ohio. He knows how to keep these cars running,” adding that the fleet manager’s “preventative maintenance programs have saved the township a lot of money in repair costs.”
      The are some 30,000 police departments across America that operate over 1 million police cruisers, about 80 per cent of which are manufactured by the Ford Motor Co.
     
      PICTURED: Fleet Manager, Mike Carkido, “The most important aspect of my job is to make the cruisers as safe as I can for our police officers. Their safety is my foremost concern.”