New police cruisers to be pulled off streets over wiring issue

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Police Department could see several new police cars parked at the city maintenance yard and not on the road.

Channel 2 Action News has learned of a wiring issue that could put officers in danger. It has to do with the blue lights officers have on their new police cruisers.

The lights are just part of a growing list of complaints from officers.

The latest issue targets the new patrol cars' wiring and lighting system. Now, Channel 2's Ryan Young has learned all 70 of the new Atlanta police cruisers will be pulled off the road, according to the Police Department.

"We discovered an issue with the light bar they don't always turn on. We got the company to come down and look at the issue," said Sgt. Greg Lyon of the Atlanta Police Department.

New software is going in all the cars to make sure the lights meet APD's standards. Four cars a day out of the 70 new ones bought are being pulled to give crews time to work on the issue.

It was just this summer when the new cars arrived. The repairs come at no cost to taxpayers.

Young also learned of other major changes that could be coming to the cars to help their visibility; rear cameras and a light bar could be moved.

APD top brass says they want to make sure they have the safest cars for their officers.

WSBTV