Local News
Police OK with new fuel policy
Chris Tucker, an 8-year veteran of the Dalton Police Department, remembers going in to work and hoping to have a patrol car to drive.
“Years ago, when I first started, we had a shortage of cars,” Tucker said.
But when he was called in last May on his day off to assist in the evacuation of Brookwood Elementary School after a teacher was threatened, Tucker said he was able to get a baby sitter for his children and get to the school in less than 20 minutes since he has a take-home patrol vehicle.
Tucker and Sam Eaton, a 9-year veteran of the department, said having the take-home cars make sense. Like Tucker, Eaton was called to Brookwood School on his off day.
“It would have taken me longer if I had to come by the police department,” said Eaton. “To load your equipment and then go, all that takes time.”
Tucker, who lives about 10 miles from the police department building on Jones Street, said he is not concerned about a new policy that will require officers to pay for gas if they go over an allotted amount.
The policy takes effect on Oct. 1. Patrol officers are allotted 120 gallons of gas per month, which includes gas needed to patrol and drive the cars home. Patrol sergeants are allotted 65 gallons a month; investigators 75 gallons a month; drug investigators 95 gallons a month; and administrative staff 45 gallons a month. Any department employee who exceeds the specified amount will be required to pay for the cost of the gas it takes to drive the car to and from home each month. No officer will be required to pay for gas used to patrol, according to the policy.
Eaton and Tucker admit they had questions when first told about the policy.
“In my 15 years as a police officer, I have never been told I need to watch the amount of fuel I use,” Tucker said. “But I understand it.”
Since gas prices have hovered near $4 a gallon at times this year, a policy requiring officers to patrol at least 3 percent of their time on foot has also been put in place.
If the fuel policy had been in place in July, employees would have been required to buy 600 gallons, Police Chief Jason Parker said. At $3.50 a gallon, that would have amounted to $2,100 a month or $25,200 a year. The department’s fuel budget for the year is $257,400.
Foot patrols are not new and people often will give valuable information to an officer they see walking, Eaton said.
“We have been patrolling on foot as long as I have been here,” he said. “I was out and got information on a suspect in some crimes. That person didn’t call it in.”
While patrolling on foot, Tucker and Eaton said they write citations on everything ranging from loud music to cars that have been abandoned.
Tucker said officers will not change their patrol routine to save money on gas.
“They will not see a decline in our activity,” he said. “We may be more targeting our patrols differently. Instead of driving by a place 30 times, I may be patrolling it on foot three or four times.”
Changes in how officers patrol while in a car are already happening, Eaton said.
“Instead of running the car while I am running laser, I am doing it with the car off,” he said.
And officers are often riding two to a car instead of one, which has its advantages.
“You have four eyes instead of two,” Tucker said. “That other guy is able to look around. You have backup in the seat next to you.”
As for taking the patrol car home each day, Tucker compared the car to an office.
“If you work in an office, how would you feel if you had to pack up your desk everyday and then come back in the morning and pack it again?” Tucker asked. “The police car is my office.”
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