BY VANESSA C. DEGGINS
*published May 11, 2008
Local law enforcement agencies are riding the gasoline wave and just hoping not to wipe out.
As prices shoot up, they have to estimate how much gas prices will rise for the next year’s budget.
“There are so many factors when it comes to deciding gas prices,” said Sheriff Tony Mancuso. “We just have to increase our estimates and hope the price doesn’t go over that.”
Calcasieu Sheriff’s Office
Mancuso said the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office budgeted for gas up to $3.50 a gallon, and as prices edge above that, he said they can only watch and wait until the end of the 2008 fiscal year in June.
This year, the Sheriff’s Office has budgeted $1.8 million for their 350-vehicle fleet’s fuel, up from $1.3 million the previous year.
The fleet’s vehicles range from marked and unmarked Ford Crown Victorias for detectives and patrollers to Chevrolet Silverado trucks for the marine division and livestock patrol.
LC Police Department
Increasing fuel costs have also backed other law enforcement agencies into a corner.
“We can’t buy smaller vehicles, because the equipment wouldn’t fit, and we can’t cut back on patrols,” said Sgt. Mark Kraus of the Lake Charles Police Department. “We’re supposed to go to the public, not make them come to us.”
The Lake Charles Police Department has $526,000 budgeted for gas this fiscal year. Last year, the LCPD spent $516,000 on gas.
If the LCPD sees that it will go over budget, it would have to make an amended budget and send it to the City Council for approval.
The LCPD has a fleet rate set on the FuelMan gas cards each officer carries.
“This saves us between six and eight cents per gallon,” Kraus said.
State Police efforts
Recently appointed Louisiana State Police Superintendent Col. Michael Edmonson said he came into office in January with gas costs as a priority.
State Police Troop D budgeted $183,166 for gasoline last year and will spend more than that by this year’s end.
Edmonson said he has tried to make every level of personnel aware of the increases. He tightened use of departmental vehicles to only work-related travel, such as patrol and going to court cases.
“We also have troopers focusing on problem areas in each parish instead of only general patrolling,” Edmonson said.
His largest planned change is the concept of parish troopers based in a rural parish’s sheriff’s office.
Rather than having them drive to the troop headquarters every day, which can be up to 80 miles in rural areas, for daily troop meetings, parish troopers would report to troop headquarters about every two weeks.
Equipment issues
All law enforcement agency leaders are hearing the complaint about why they use gas-guzzling cars like Crown Victorias and sport utility vehicles.
The vehicles used are selected because they are the most reliable for law enforcement, they say.
The Crown Victoria, Chevrolet Tahoe and Dodge Charger are “pursuit-rated” vehicles, meaning they are deemed suitable for highspeed pursuit and emergency driving.
This is determined by annual tests done by the Michigan State Police.
The Michigan State Police Precision Driving Unit uses Chrysler Motors’ Vehicle Testing Grounds just outside of Detroit to test things like acceleration time, top speed, emergency handling and braking capabilities of various vehicles.
The tests, funded by Chrysler, Ford and General Motors, are done on a twomile test track of hills, curves and corners.
The only other agency that conducts this level of tests is the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Annual Law Enforcement Vehicle Test and Evaluation Program.
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