Lexington 警察局出租其公務車輛，每月只要50美元就可做為私人用途。但有人反對，因為員警開巡邏車將可增加見警率，其對公家之報酬遠超過50美元。
此一創新做法在 2012年秋季實施，犯罪率隨後下降了 7.8%，以前該局員警可以將車開回家，但不能開去辦事做私人用途。
此一政策在台灣是不可能實施的，但大家可以思考此種作法是否更具人性化，且其增加見警率間接對防範犯罪也是有幫助的。
$50 fee could get Ky. cops cruisers for personal use
Lexington
police are considering changes to the city's cruiser policy that would
allow officers to use city-owned vehicles for personal use for a $50
monthly fee
By Beth Musgrave
Lexington Herald-Leader
LEXINGTON,
Ky. — Lexington police are considering changes to the city's cruiser
policy that would allow officers to use city-owned vehicles for
personal use for a $50 monthly fee.
But many members of the Urban
County Council on Tuesday said they don't think police officers should
be charged $50 to use cruisers to run personal errands.
"There is
no way to estimate the value of having more police officers on the
street," said Councilman Harry Clarke. Clarke's comments came during
Tuesday's Public Safety Committee meeting.
Some council members
said the visibility of those police cruisers can help deter crime.
Others said it's difficult to put a cost on citizens' safety.
Police
officers can drive their cruisers to their homes and to work but can't
drive them for personal errands. If a police officer has a second job,
he or she can pay $50 a month toward gas. That policy went into effect
in the fall of 2012 as a way to cut costs. Before that policy change,
police officers could use their city-owned vehicles freely and at no
cost.
The limitations on personal use of police vehicles has
become a topic of discussion in the November mayoral election. Mayoral
candidate and former Lexington police Chief Anthany Beatty has
criticized Mayor Jim Gray for limiting police cruiser use. Since late
June, the city has seen a surge in shootings, and the city recorded its
11th homicide this week. The more officers people see, the less likely
it is that people will commit crimes, Beatty has said.
Gray's
administration has been working with the Fraternal Order of Police for
six months to amend the collective bargaining agreement to reinstate
the policy. The program was a concession agreed to by the police during
lean budget times.
But the program has not generated the $800,000 in savings it was estimated to generate.
For the 2013 calendar year, it saved roughly $288,000, according to numbers provided by the Gray administration.
Scott
Shapiro, a senior adviser to Gray, said that overall mileage
decreased, but not as much as originally estimated. Maintenance costs
actually rose because of the age of the city's police fleet. Insurance
costs, another key area of savings, remained about the same, he told the
council Tuesday.
Shapiro said that crime decreased in 2013 by 7.8 percent during the time that personal use for police vehicles was restricted.
Councilman
Kevin Stinnett said that it's difficult to say how the restrictions on
personal use has altered crime rates, because the way crime is tracked
and reported was changed two years ago.
Other members of the
council asked why the council was not told that the administration was
going to ask the FOP to consider a $50 monthly fee. Still others said
they were concerned that the council was told about the proposal only
on Tuesday. Information about the changes to the policy was was given
to the council only shortly before the meeting. "I have concerns about
the transparency, or lack of transparency," said Councilman Bill
Farmer.
Shapiro said the city and FOP were still in talks, and that's why the information was not given to the council earlier.
Jamie
Emmons, chief of staff for Gray, said that it was the FOP that decided
to do away with personal use for police vehicles when the city asked
for cost savings from the police department, fire department and other
unions several years ago.
The $50 flat fee will help offset some
of the costs — such as fuel — for restoring the program. Emmons and
Shapiro began discussing changes to the policy with the FOP after a
November Public Safety Committee meeting. During that meeting,
estimates showed that the program was not generating the savings that
it was supposed to.
About 359 police officers would likely be eligible for the expanded personal use of police vehicles.
Det.
Jason Rothermund, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said
voting on the policy change began Tuesday and will conclude Sunday.
Rothermund said a survey in February showed overwhelming support for
the FOP to return to the city to re-open negotiations on the cruiser
policy. Rothermund said he couldn't say whether the policy will pass.
"I've heard from both sides," Rothermund said.
If
the FOP rejects the policy, the current policy that allows police
officers only to drive to and from work will remain in effect until next
year, when the current collective bargaining agreement with police
expires.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
Source: http://www.policeone.com/vehicle-incidents/articles/7363730-50-fee-could-get-Ky-cops-cruisers-for-personal-use/
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