PoliceLink

It's getting ready to happen here in our post district. One of our local agencies Owensboro PD is going to start charging either $30.00/wk or month for take home.

hcgale says ...

oh it would be a very cold day in hell before i ever paid to put a chevy in my driveway!  good luck with that one.

Barring the Chevy joke, I'm thinking, fine I'll keep my money and you keep your car at post and when I get called out in the middle of the night sure I'll drive all the way to post to get my car and go to the emergency. I'll save money on insurance too. We carry writers on our personal policies to cover our cars. I get the amount of the writer back but where I lose money is the fact that I have to cover higher amounts of insurance then law requires me too for my personal vehicle.

If I ever had to pay for my car I would leave my car at the station but I would charge the county for  emergency calls and they would be upset so it is better to just keep your car if they want you to back up

tonyboyum says ...

If I ever had to pay for my car I would leave my car at the station but I would charge the county for  emergency calls and they would be upset so it is better to just keep your car if they want you to back up

Not with the price of gas.  Nothing says I MUST take thecar home, I can leave it parked in the county, but when you do the math, I'm saving money by not driving my POV...

Tulsa, OK PD currently has take-home cars, but is considering disbanding the practice.  They are also thinking about eliminating allowing officers taking the cars to secondary jobs (like bank security, etc.).  Naturally, the businesses that hire the cops for those jobs would prefer that the cars be in the lots.

Our situation must have been different.  We were one of the first departments with take home cars. MD state police had to start a similar program because we got all the recruits.    Anyway, it was give and take. We had to keep a running log of all the things we did off duty in exchange for the personal patrol car.  We wrote tickets, took calls, ran on emergencies if we were close. We made felony arrests and misdemeanor arrests, all logged.  Of course, if we backed up an on duty  and got there first, they would take over and handle . But, our arrests had to be done by us as usual.  We got overtime if we did get involved more than a certain length of time.    But, unlike some places, we were on duty 24/7 and the department insurance covered the patrol car. When we went from being in an off duty capacity to taking any type of police action, we automatically were covered by the department.   We had to drop any civilians out of the car if we expedited.  I once left the family out and ran on an officer in trouble call. That was the only time .      My wife was with me on many a traffic stop.  Since the shotgun was in the car, she was not helpless if something happened to me.  But, back then we didnt worry about it much.  Today, things seem quite different.

  Whatever happened to Mayberry?

We used our cars as we pleased for anything we pleased. Grocery shopping, drive in movie you name it. But, the county knew from the logs that they got a good deal.>  Things like OMNIPRESENCE  meant something to them back then.  And you couldnt go anywhere without seeing a police car. The citizens felt like they were well protected.

My department has take homes, and generally we are not allowed to do anything but work related driving.  We even have several guys that live well outside of the county, but no extra charges for mileage or anything.  I think it just results in a better taken care of vehicle that will last longer in the long run.

Nothing is free, we all should know that by now.

We have take home cars in our county, but with the rising gas prices we have had to cut back milage and some have lost theirs unless they are on call.