Take home car studies

[dontknowwhy]

My new dept doesn't have take home cars for anyone, including the chief ore his number 2. Since we are a very small dept (10 people total, 4 vehicles) with half our jurisdiction in a city with a larger then us force (6-9 per shift) and the other half in the county (10-15 per shift, not counting traffic and k9), I know I can't justify having take homes to be used if something big goes down and the duty officers need help. However, I mentioned to the chief that while we have a great relationship with the other depts and they have more then enough manpower to send when needed, they don't have our chief or capt who need to be able to respond in the event of an OIS, officer seriously hurt, etc. For this reason, I think it would be easier to justify them getting take homes, and then we can work on getting them for the rest of us on down the line. Based on all this, I am now tasked with researching why the two Tops should be able to get TH's.

I have read a lot of the studies on why it's good for officers to get TH's, better on the cars, etc, but now I am looking for any info to justify the brass getting them. Anyone have anything that can help a brother out? Thanks in advance.

[Monkeybomb]

I can't quote a study but I can tell you from experience. Take homes last longer and are better taken care of than pool cars. Its a nice perk for agencies that don't pay as well as some others. Its savings for the officer which doesn't cost the agency as much. Plus they get free coverage while enroute to and from work. We have take homes here but neasrly everyone except staff has a car partner. On your days off your partner has it and on your overlap day one of you picks up a spare.

The units are only used for work purposes. No getting groceries etc. If you get called out you can go into service immediately and code 3 if its warranted. I almost always get a traffic stop or two in on the way to briefing and back up on calls when its needed.

Its a win- win. Staff has them for much the same reason. If its a major scene you can respond from home and have all the commo you need. No reason to rally and then head to the scene. Its a time saver.

[LAChief]

For me, you are a "large" department. There are 3 (counting me) for my department. We have a static population of approximately 700 and a dailey working population between 2500-3000. I live in town and on call 24/7. My other two Officers have take home cars and live within a reasonable distance to where, if needed, I could call them out. Different driving habits dictate different mechanical problems with cars. If one of my Officers began ragging out a car, I would know how to address the problem. Either they change their driving habits or they lose the car. Also, I do periodic checks on the vehicles to make sure they are being properly maintained and cleaned. We are one of the better paying agencies in teh area, yet the take home car is still a perk. My Officers have reported them saving approximately $200-$300 a month with the take home's.

Plus, pretty much what the Monkey^^^^^ said.

[NJLAWMAN214]

In my neck of the woods and almost all of Jersey, the only take homes are for the brass. Our top five have take home cars and our K-9 officer.

[dontknowwhy]

NJ, can you tell me some of how they justify that? I'm sure it's the reasons I've already put down, but want to make sure I didn't miss anything.

[Sinister_kid]

Around here... all WSP have take homes. And the sheriff's also have take homes. My town (small) has take homes but the bigger cities, like everett, don't except for k-9

[j706]

Around the central Indiana area it seems that all PD's have take home cars. I actually work for a full time agency as well as a part time agency. As a result I have two take home cars. My part time is a rural town with 500 pop. along a major E/W interstate and two state roads. We have two PT officers,both with take homes. We buy two new ones every four years. We have state wide use for any reason. We don't abuse the privilege and we have had the same policy for 10 plus years. We take car of the cars and when they are replaced they actually bring decent cash. We replaced out 04's in 09. We did a trade in on new ones at 5K per. 10k is 1/2 the price of a new CV.

My full time job has take homes with county wide use only. They ask that we fuel the thing up when we drive them for personal use.

Take home cars are part of a compensation package. I think it saves agency's money in more ways than one not to mention having more presence on the roads. Oh yea-we are required to respond to critical incidents close to our location even when off duty and in a patrol car. I myself have a bank robber pursuit/arrest assist (with a shooting) using my take home and at least three home burg. arrests all while off duty. Take home cars are good policy IMO.

[913]

My neighbors are happy as hell I've had a take home in my driveway for 10 years. Makes them feel safe, keeps turds moving on, and property values up.

[PeteBroccolo]

My questions to those of you with take-home vehicles:
1/ are you compensated for the on-call time (1-for-whatever, cash or time)?
2/ are you paid overtime for EVERY incident you deal with while off-duty, no matter what (from traffic ticket issuance to murder investigation)?
3/ is personal-use a taxable benefit?

My experience with my Force was:
1/ Prior to about 1990: nothing. After 1990 to about 2006: 1-for-4, paid or banked time (banked to maximum of 80 hours). Since 2006: 1-for4 for immediate response and 1-for-8 for secondary / back-up.
2/ Had to be something pretty serious and the boss had to agree, otherwise no authorization.
3/ Definitely taxable.

I understand sheep-dog, law-enforcement-is-a-calling, different laws and culture, but how about just getting decent pay and proper staffing for 24/7 coverage and back-up, then just drive and maintain the vehicles properly?

[Monkeybomb]

1/ are you compensated for the on-call time (1-for-whatever, cash or time)?
No compensation most of the time. Unless you are called in. Then its paid from the time you are called until you get back home.

2/ are you paid overtime for EVERY incident you deal with while off-duty, no matter what (from traffic ticket issuance to murder investigation)?

No compensation most of the time. Its usually a few minutes for a traffic stop on the way into the office. If you come in early and get an in custody or out on a call for an extended time you should probably throw in an OT slip.

3/ is personal-use a taxable benefit? Ours is for use to and from work only. In uniform and ready to go. No personal use so its not taxed.

[The State]

This is a very god thread. I opened one up in MN posting area to see what counties currently have and do not have take home cars. My buddy works for a county in MN that has had take homes for decades. Now, with new admin they have decided to take them away. The county has a SWAT team, K9 and currently 3 sergeants. The only 4 people that will be able to take them home are the 2 K9s, the Chief (who lives out of the county and has a 45 minn drive and the Sheriff). The county is rural MN and after hearing the publics input they are very upset. Not only will this, as stated above, take away from their neighborhoods feeling "more safe" with the usual squad cars in plain view parked int eh driveways of the deputies but for a rural department it just does not make any sense for the SWAT guys to have to respond either in their own vehicles or respond to a staging area then to the scene when you could have them respond faster if they can leave their driveways in their squad cars. Not only this, but the moral of the department is shot, one of the main perks of working for the county was having a take home and with that being gone now alot of the guys/girls are really upset. Mn has 87 counties, MOST of which have take homes.

[The State]

Also, stated....deputies take better care of their own cars, its their office per say. And the argument that it will save the department money to hot box cars and cut a fleet is not realistic seeing as you will be putting twice as many miles on half the amount of cars. Once a department takes the cars away and a county board sees this, they will never get them back.

[NJLAWMAN214]

The take homes are because they might have to respond to a critical incident. Our Chief has responded to ONE incident in my five years here while off duty. Truthfully, of the five admin who have take homes, four live in town, and one 20 miles away. We have made the argument that the one living 20 miles away should give up his take home. K9 is a no brainer for take home status as he gets called out all of the time.

Now this being said, I could care less for take home cars for numerous reasons. I do however feel that having assigned patrol vehicles is a logical option. Take homes are not a big deal here in New Jersey because we are paid very well in lieu of being given a vehicle to take home.

[Sarge048]

Also a small dept. Here the sheriff, undersheriff, and the 3 sgts have take home cars. We cover approx 770sq miles and if command ofc is needed one of us is getting called and expected to respond. Its a good benefit.

Me and another sgt both live in the same small town so they have more police presence then they have ever had. Some like it, some dont. The ones that dont keep us with take home cars if you know what I mean.

[SGT53]

We are a 15 Officer Department. The Chief has a take home as well as both our Detectives. Our Detectives soon will lose their take home cars. They are not called out enough to justify having the cars at home. When the Chief is called, it is better for him to have a car for response. SGT's are next in command in my Department, so when the Chief is on leave, he will assign a SGT as "in Command" and provide his vehicle if need be.