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Lowndes County residents should start to notice new patrol vehicles on the road from the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Department.

Lowndes County Sheriff Christopher West said the Lowndes County Commission budgeted for the department to be able to receive five new F-150 4×4 pickup trucks this year.

“We are extremely grateful to the commission for making this happen,” he said. “A lot of our cars have many miles on them. This allows our deputies to be on the road and caring for our community.”

While it was previously announced that the office would receive the vehicles, they recently came in and are now on the road.

Additionally, the commission OK’d some $200,000 for CAD software to allow the sheriff’s department to get up-to-date software.

West said they had received $25,000 from ADECA for the computer aided dispatch software.

West said they needed additional funds to be able to update the system and the county commission stepped up to the plate.

“We always want to make sure we are using tax-payer money in ways that help the community, and this will,” West said.

The complete software includes other components such as jail maintenance software, records maintenance software, weapons and evidence inventory, vehicle maintenance and personnel.

The benefits to the software is that deputies, E-911 dispatchers and others involved in cases and calls can see needed information about potential suspects, which can help provide more safety to deputies and those around the scene.