Cop cars cost $2.2m to fix

Police are spending $2.2 million a year fixing their banged up fleet, while 134 police vehicles have been written off since 2011.

Figures provided under the Official Information Act showed there were 5000 incidents in the past five years where a police vehicle crashed or was deliberately damaged.

The bill from mechanics and panel beaters over the five-year period was $11.37m, with an average repair cost of $2239.

Last year there were 1109 police vehicles requiring repairs, up from 1047 in 2014, police figures show.

The total number of vehicles in the New Zealand police fleet is 3150.

‘‘While police would like the number of crashes to be zero, the reality is that we police in a dynamic and at times high-risk environment, which means that there will inevitably be occasions when crashes will occur,’’ police national infrastructure manager Andrew MacArthur said.

The damage was caused by a combination of the deliberate actions of others and crashes and other incidents that occur in the course of police duties, he said.

The most expensive repair job on a police vehicle was a Hyundai van which had its engine reconditioned for $16,391.

However, after the engine was installed the van suffered a ‘‘catastrophic failure, causing the engine to seize’’, the police report said. Police chose to write it off. Counties Manukau and Waitemata had the highest repair bills of any police districts over the five years, both coming in at $1.48m, followed by Canterbury $1.46m and Auckland $1.1m.