LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Police departments in eastern Kentucky took a serious blow to their cruiser fleets after the historic flooding.
"If I were in those shoes, I would want people to step up and be there for us," Nelson County Sheriff Ramon Pineiroa said. "I couldn't even imagine. The majority of your fleet is gone."
His office is donating two vehicles from its retired fleet to the Letcher County Sheriff's Office. They are currently being used at the Nelson County jail.
Letcher County Sheriff Mickey Stines said his office lost six cruisers in the flood. He added three more cruisers are barely able to last in their current conditions.
"[The flood] basically ruined 100% of everything. Equipment, seats," Pineiroa said. "And smaller rural counties are affected by the resources they have."
Nelson County Jailer John Snellen and the County Fiscal Court helped Pineiroa come up with a plan to revamp the two older cruisers with new decals.
In adding the new design, Pineiroa said anyone in the area will be able to easily identify their law enforcement, adding that having a cruiser "representing your own" department gives a big boost of morale to officers.
"When your livelihood kind of stops you from doing what you do best, it's not only devastating but it plays with your head a little bit," he said. "Because you're not able to go out and help people."
Pineiora said the cars will get to Letcher County within the next week or two.
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Stines said his office received 20 cruisers from all over the state, including from Jeffersontown police.
That's more than enough to replace his fleet of cars, he said, adding the remaining donations will go to the Whitesburg Police Department.
"We are so humbled by the support," he said. "We want people to know that we will recover from this. Here in this region, we're the back bone of America, the coal mines, we've worked hard our whole lives, we continue to get through this together," Stines said.
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