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The vehicles are used for high-water rescues in the city – which have been happening more frequently with the increased rainfall this year.
The latest addition brings the department’s total to three and comes from Fort Dix through the LESO 1033 Program.
“The students painted the vehicle as part of a school project for us,” said Officer Frank R. McCall, a traffic investigator with the department.
“Essentially the Hummers are glorified pick-up trucks with a strong engine and big tires and can go more places our normal patrol vehicles cannot,” McCall said.
“The trucks are equipped with high-air intakes and high-exhaust pipes that allow the trucks to enter deep water to perform rescues,” he said.
“Since the other two trucks have been in service we have made many rescues with them,” McCall added, “mostly on Green Street and Newman Street, where drivers have disregarded barricades and found out the hard way that the water was too deep for their vehicles.
“We assisted Bogota once on Bridge Street near the USS Ling with a man and child stuck in their car where the water level was up to windows.”
The Humvees also allow city police to respond on steep hills during snow emergencies, McCall added.
Hackensack PBA Local 9 gave the students at the Paramus campus a plaque and t-shirts for all their hard work, he said.
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