NCJ Number
213203
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 33 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2006 Pages: 40,42-44,46,48
Date Published
January 2006
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This article describes how four law enforcement agencies addressed the spike in fuel costs following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.
Abstract
The Newberry County (South Carolina) Sheriff’s Office took a number of measures to reduce fuel usage within its agency, including requiring all officer reporting to be done at substations rather than at headquarters and tightening the limitations of the take-home car program. During the months when fuel costs were at their highest, the agency was forced to suspend some training functions and improve the coordination of prisoner transportation. The county is currently investigating the possibility of using alternative fuels. The Monroe County (Indiana) Sheriff’s Department took the measures of limiting off-duty use of patrol vehicles, which caused tension among officers, and asked officers to reduce idling time and look for opportunities to turn vehicles off. The South Carolina Sheriff’s Association sited such measures as parking patrol cars for 15 minutes every hour in populated or business areas and conducting foot patrols during that time. Many of South Carolina’s Sheriff’s agencies moved to require the agency of origin to transport mental health patients to hospitals for treatment, thereby reducing expensive transportation fees. The Lexington County (South Carolina) Sheriff’s Department began charging officers $20 per paycheck for driving home their police vehicles and also began charging home owners a fee after their third false alarm for a burglary, which was one of their most frequent calls for service. Additionally, officials minimized overtime pay, parked cars, eliminated some training, and replaced their Ford Crown Victoria’s with new Chevy Impalas, a smaller vehicle with reduced fuel costs.