AGENDA #3d

 

BUDGET WORKING PAPER

 

TO:                  Mayor and Town Council

 

FROM:            W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager

 

SUBJECT:       Police Department Vehicle Fleet Options         

 

DATE:             April 30, 2003

 

 

The purpose of this memorandum is to respond to a request for information from a Council member regarding the potential costs and benefits of allowing police officers to take their police cars home when off duty.

 

BACKGROUND

 

A fleet system that allows police officers to take their assigned police cars to and from work when off duty is typically known as a “take-home” fleet.  Because most North Carolina sheriff’s departments require deputies to live in the county in which they police, take home fleets are normal for sheriff’s departments.  We have identified approximately thirteen municipal departments in the state that have take-home fleets.  Only one of these departments has more officers than Chapel Hill.

 

Most agencies surveyed have policies in place that limit off-duty uses of the police vehicles. Several place mileage limits on the distance that a police car can be driven from the jurisdiction (i.e. Carrboro has a 35-mile limit).

 

Most agencies surveyed about their take-home fleet noted three principal benefits of the system.  First, the additional vehicles increase the police presence and visibility throughout the community.  Second, allowing officers to take their vehicles home gives the agency a recruiting advantage over neighboring agencies without such a program.  Third, the system enhances the officer retention rate.  None of the agencies surveyed have conducted research to determine whether the beliefs about benefits are valid.    

 

DISCUSSION

 

During our initial evaluation of the feasibility of implementing a take-home fleet system in the Chapel Hill Police Department, it became apparent that the primary benefit noted by most police agencies – increased police presence and visibility – would not be realized in Chapel Hill.  Because over ninety percent of Chapel Hill officers live outside of the Town limits, any increase in the level of visibility resulting from the take-home fleet would be minimal.  Also, many Chapel Hill officers live as far away as Pittsboro, Apex, Raleigh, and northern Orange and Durham Counties.  The additional mileage and related fuel and maintenance costs would be significant.  We do not believe that offering “take home” privileges would be a sufficient incentive to greatly change the number of police officers who would live in Chapel Hill, mainly because of the high cost of housing. 

 

In the place of a take-home fleet we have developed a fleet system proposal that would provide officers with their own police car while not allowing the car to be taken out of the jurisdiction when off-duty.  We believe that allowing officers to have an individually assigned car, rather than sharing a car with three or four other officers, as is now the case, would increase officer morale and could enhance the police department’s ability to recruit and retain officers.             

 

FLEET PROPOSAL

 

Police officers spend thousands of hours every year in their patrol cars.  Chapel Hill officers currently share a car with three or four other officers.  Many of the cars are operated twenty-four hours per day, at least four days per week.  The cars are used for at least three years before they are sold at auction.  Most of the cars have approximately 55,000 miles on them when they are sold.  This relatively normal mileage does not reflect the abnormally high number of operating hours resulting from long rolling periods and in-town driving.  The cars typically show the wear of three years of police work, including rough driving conditions, prisoners damaging the vehicle’s interior and around-the-clock operations.      

 

We believe that a one officer–one vehicle fleet system would improve officer morale and could have a positive impact on the department’s recruitment and retention rates.  This system would provide each officer with his/her own car.  The car would not be used by others except in emergency situations.  Officers could keep their equipment in the car at the beginning and end of the work day rather than moving it back and forth to their personal vehicle.   It is likely that officers would take better care of a car that was assigned to them.

 

The Department currently operates seventy-two vehicles.  Fifty-five more cars would need to be purchased to reach the total of 127 cars that would be needed to fully implement a one officer–one vehicle fleet.  If the fleet system were to be implemented, we recommend that it be done over a six-year period.  In the sixth year, all officers would have a vehicle assigned to them.  The six-year implementation schedule was chosen because it is anticipated that cars under this system would last for six years, rather than the current three.  This projection was based on information provided by agencies with take-home fleets and is supported by the Town’s fleet manager, Brady Moore.

 

The table on Attachment 1 illustrates the costs of the proposed system at full implementation and at annual intervals throughout the six-year phase-in period.  At full implementation, the department’s one officer-one vehicle system would cost approximately $1.19 million per year.  The annual cost of the current system is $598,000.  The total for the proposed system includes fifty-five new vehicles and equipment (including computers and modems), all anticipated maintenance costs, financing costs (not adjusted for inflation), and liability coverage for the larger fleet.  The total figure also includes the cost of two half-time positions that would be needed starting in year three.  A half-time mechanic position would be needed to provide the additional vehicle maintenance resulting from the larger fleet. A half-time information technology position would be needed to help maintain the additional in-car computers. 

 

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF PROPOSED FLEET

 

There are several advantages and disadvantages to implementing a one officer-one vehicle fleet.  Those related to recruitment, retention rates and officer morale are based on assumptions and subjective information received while surveying other departments who have similar systems.  None of the agency representatives surveyed for this report   could offer empirical data that supported beliefs about increased retention and improved recruitment rates.

 

Advantages

 

• As one of only a dozen North Carolina municipal departments offering recruits their own vehicle, such a system could help increase the attractiveness of the department to recruits.

 

• Each vehicle would be operated for fewer hours and fewer miles per year, deceasing per-vehicle maintenance costs and increasing the life of each vehicle by three years.

 

• Cars not being used would be parked throughout town, serving as a deterrent to crime.

 

• Officers would have “ownership” of their car, increasing the likelihood that the interior and exterior appearance of the cars would improve.

 

• About twenty minutes per day of an officer’s duty time would be saved by eliminating the need for officers to load and unload their personal equipment from personal car to police car.

 

• Such a system could result in a slight increase in the resale value of police cars sold at auction.

 

• The additional vehicles would result in more vehicles being available for off-duty functions in town, increasing the police visibility.

 

Disadvantages

 

• The cost of the proposed fleet system at full implementation would double the cost of the current system.

 

• Implementation of the system would delay the benefits of the system to some officers for up to six years.  That delay could negate some of the recruitment and retention benefits.

 

• Parking at the police headquarters building is limited.  Most police cars would have to be parked at off-site locations, increasing the potential for the cars to be vandalized.

 

SUMMARY

 

Increasing the current police department vehicle fleet from 72 cars to 127 would allow each police officer to have his/her own car.  When fully implemented, such a system would cost approximately $1.19 million, which is double the current fleet budget.  The proposed system could have a positive impact on the recruitment and retention of officers though the lack of the take-home option would likely reduce that benefit.

 

ATTACHMENT

 

1. Cost Schedule for One Officer-One Vehicle Fleet System (p. 5).