Higher Fuel Prices Hurting Law Enforcement
Jim Kouri, CPP
May 04, 2006
(This article is based on a report by the National Association of Chiefs of Police.)
Police departments, especially those serving smaller cities and towns, are beginning to feel the economic pinch of the recent hike in gas prices. For instance, the Memphis Police Department reports that it is already $1.2 million over its gasoline budget for 2006.?
The higher gas and fuel prices are beginning to wreak havoc within America's overall economy and the skyrocketing costs of heating law enforcement facilities and keeping police cars, motorcycles and emergency vehicles running are adding to budget woes for local governments all across the country.
For instance, in one southern city, each one cent increase in a gallon of gas means a $70,000 increase in annual fuel costs to the city budget, according to a report distributed at the League of Municipalities Conference, on October 17, 2005.
As a means to conserve gas and save money officers there are encouraged to walk instead of drive whenever possible. However, some law enforcement agencies were prepared for the increase.
"It gets expensive $40-$50?for a tank of gas.? It adds up in a hurry," said one police commander. Now multiply that times the 30 plus cars in the police fleet and you have a fuel bill that is on the rise.
"We anticipated the gas being an issue, so we increased our fuel budget by $25,000," said another police chief,
Some economists are predicting gas should continue to surge into the summer when gas consumption is at its highest. Meanwhile, police officers are forced to use their air conditioning which consumes even more gasoline.
One of the proposed solutions to the gas crunch is to leave the cars parked in the parking lot and have more foot patrol, but according to the police department that is even less of an economical idea. Unfortunately, it takes more manpower to cover that area on foot. If you are in a vehicle and you are mobile, you can cover a larger geographic area with a smaller amount of manpower.
In this writers home state, New Jersey, smaller police departments are looking at increasing their bicycle patrols while relying less on patrol cars.
Many believe this is not a temporary situation and that police chiefs must begin to assume high fuel prices when creating their departmental budgets.
Gasoline Theft Rising
They pull in, they pump gas, and they never pay a cent. Police in one township say the number of gas drive-offs has doubled in the last few months, with 105 reported so far this year in just one jurisdiction.
There's probably a lot of citizens out there that have minimal-paying jobs, need to get to work -- have to get to work -- and can't afford to put gas in the car so they're filling up and driving off.
Most "drive-offs" are never reported to police because of bad information. Officers who respond to at least one drive-off complaint a week say those who continue to drive off know they're getting away with it.
Police say if things don't change, they expect to total well over 400 drive-off reports this summer.
For now, all gas station clerks are being advised to be pro-active: Write down license plates as drivers pull in, and report important information that may catch these thieves.
"The best thing we need is the plate number," Willis says. "After the plate, the description of the driver and the video or physical description by an eyewitness."
Police departments, especially those serving smaller cities and towns, are beginning to feel the economic pinch of the recent hike in gas prices. For instance, the Memphis Police Department reports that it is already $1.2 million over its gasoline budget for 2006.?
The higher gas and fuel prices are beginning to wreak havoc within America's overall economy and the skyrocketing costs of heating law enforcement facilities and keeping police cars, motorcycles and emergency vehicles running are adding to budget woes for local governments all across the country.
For instance, in one southern city, each one cent increase in a gallon of gas means a $70,000 increase in annual fuel costs to the city budget, according to a report distributed at the League of Municipalities Conference, on October 17, 2005.
As a means to conserve gas and save money officers there are encouraged to walk instead of drive whenever possible. However, some law enforcement agencies were prepared for the increase.
"It gets expensive $40-$50?for a tank of gas.? It adds up in a hurry," said one police commander. Now multiply that times the 30 plus cars in the police fleet and you have a fuel bill that is on the rise.
"We anticipated the gas being an issue, so we increased our fuel budget by $25,000," said another police chief,
Some economists are predicting gas should continue to surge into the summer when gas consumption is at its highest. Meanwhile, police officers are forced to use their air conditioning which consumes even more gasoline.
One of the proposed solutions to the gas crunch is to leave the cars parked in the parking lot and have more foot patrol, but according to the police department that is even less of an economical idea. Unfortunately, it takes more manpower to cover that area on foot. If you are in a vehicle and you are mobile, you can cover a larger geographic area with a smaller amount of manpower.
In this writers home state, New Jersey, smaller police departments are looking at increasing their bicycle patrols while relying less on patrol cars.
Many believe this is not a temporary situation and that police chiefs must begin to assume high fuel prices when creating their departmental budgets.
Gasoline Theft Rising
They pull in, they pump gas, and they never pay a cent. Police in one township say the number of gas drive-offs has doubled in the last few months, with 105 reported so far this year in just one jurisdiction.
There's probably a lot of citizens out there that have minimal-paying jobs, need to get to work -- have to get to work -- and can't afford to put gas in the car so they're filling up and driving off.
Most "drive-offs" are never reported to police because of bad information. Officers who respond to at least one drive-off complaint a week say those who continue to drive off know they're getting away with it.
Police say if things don't change, they expect to total well over 400 drive-off reports this summer.
For now, all gas station clerks are being advised to be pro-active: Write down license plates as drivers pull in, and report important information that may catch these thieves.
"The best thing we need is the plate number," Willis says. "After the plate, the description of the driver and the video or physical description by an eyewitness."
Print
Email
