SCRANTON – The city’s police department will no longer have to make do with a makeshift prisoner van or wait for an additional patrol car to carry suspects from the scene of a crime.

Scranton Police Lt. Len Namiotka unveiled the service’s new prisoner transport vehicle on Thursday, Feb. 16. Chief Dan Duffy said Friday that the vehicle cost $35,000, and Namiotka said it was bought and paid for using fees paid to the city by towing companies who are authorized towers.

The vehicle was built by Supreme Specialty Vehicles in Cleburne, Texas, and the transport cab was built in Jonestown, Pa. The chassis and cab can be separated, if something happened to the truck in the line of duty, according to Namiotka.

The vehicle has 12,000 miles on it and, until Thursday, had never carried a prisoner.

“We’re going to see what we can do tonight,” Namiotka said jokingly.

The vehicle went into service at about 5 p.m. Thursday afternoon, and at least two suspects were transported in the new wagon Thursday evening, Namiotka said Friday.

The new vehicle replaces an old wagon that has been out of service for several months.

“With the van being down, you had to call another officer from his officer with a cage in his car… It’s very time consuming waiting for an officer to get to an area,” Namiotka said.

In the past, vans were fitted with seats to create vehicles not originally intended for moving prisoners. Those vans weren’t always as efficient as the new transport vehicle will be.

“This has a more secure area. Sometimes you get prisoners hiding contraband. Now, that’s impossible. It’s all molded seats with seatbelts and shackles,” Namiotka said.

Locked compartments under prisoners’ seats can hold all of the tools necessary to transport prisoners. A division inside the vehicle also allows police to separate men and women or adults and juveniles. The segregated compartments carry a total of eight prisoners.

“This saves time and resources. It’s very efficient,” the lieutenant added.

In addition, the vehicle is the first to display a new set of decals and paint scheme that are more closely aligned with the department’s “Be Part of the Solution” campaign, used to encourage a public-private partnership to preventing crime. It also displays the department’s patch rather than the badge currently placed on many vehicles.