FOLEY, Ala. - The Foley City Council unanimously approved a resolution Monday for the Foley Police Department to purchase a Data Crash Box for $8,543 to download information from vehicles after major crashes.

Foley Police Chief David Wilson told the council during the work session Monday that there was $20,000 originally budgeted for the police department to purchase a Total Work Station, which Deputy Chief Randy Bishop said is a laser crime-scene management tool which works similar to surveying land and is a good tool for car wreck scenes. However, the Daphne Police Department has the equipment and has let the Foley PD use it at times. The Daphne PD does not have the Data Crash Box and Wilson said it would be efficient and cost-saving for each department to have one and lend it to the other when needed.

"That way both of us are not buying the same pieces of equipment," Wilson said. "Working together, I think we'll be able to save quite a bit of money."

The box Wilson requested to buy will hook into the diagnostic reader of the vehicle and get information pertaining to the crash. Bishop said the equipment gives the last few minutes the car's activity, with information such as: whether seat belts were used, whether headlights were used, whether blinkers were used, when the car began to brake, what speed it was traveling.

Bishop said the equipment mainly is used for wrecks with fatalities and serious injuries, and it would not be used for minor vehicle accidents.