Reply With QuoteThere used to be a study somewhere that compared the cost of take home cars with the cost of fleet maintained vehicles. The story has it that takehome cars cost less to maintain therefore they became a standard...any thoughts
This article leaves a lot to be discussed.
“The average mileage on our (patrol) cars is 108,000 miles. They are starting to fall apart, literally.”
Road cop vs. desk jockey: Guess who drives the junker?
By Matthew Spina NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: 07/20/08 8:52 AM
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Buffalo News
An aging patrol car in the Erie County Sheriff’s Office fleet has 188,000 miles on it
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COMMENT ON THIS STORY at Inside the News, 'Take home vehicles for Sheriff's Office'
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Who in the Sheriff's Office can take home a car?
As patrol cars go, one of the better ones at the Erie County Sheriff’s Office will soon click past 100,000 miles.
A battered truck driven by an arson investigator reached 120,000 miles before the engine blew.
And an old workhorse patrol vehicle will soon hit 200,000 miles and counting.
Then there’s a different class of car for a different class of worker.
Lt. Greg Savage will sport a new Chevrolet Tahoe, a $40,000 sport utility vehicle that musters just 20 miles a gallon on the highway.
Chief Scott Patronik, in charge of technical services, also drives a Tahoe even though much of his workday is spent in the office.
Sheriff Timothy B. Howard drives a Tahoe as well.
Those three vehicles, and dozens of others, are available for employees to take to and from work. Of the sheriff’s 125 cars on the road, anywhere from 55 to 60, depending on whom you talk to, are driven home by appointees and the occupants of dozens of unionized jobs.
Those employees are freed from the costs of insurance, maintenance and $4.25-a-gallon fuel prices for their daily commute.
It’s difficult to determine the exact number of take-home cars in the department. Howard puts it at 55. The county comptroller two years ago counted 59. Another sheriff’s official, unwilling to be identified, insists there are 60.
Take-home cars go to warrant-squad deputies, civil deputies serving court papers and desk-bound officials rarely called to emergencies. The Sheriff’s Office has more take-home autos than any Erie County department and more than the Buffalo police, a far bigger agency when it comes to officers and investigators on the road.
Fifteen new squad cars will arrive later this summer, enabling the sheriff’s garage to retire some over-the-hill patrol cars. The state-appointed control board just agreed to buy $750,000 worth of patrol cars — another 30 — after hearing pleas from a high-ranking official.
“Our fleet is distressed,” said Brian Doyle, the undersheriff for administration, who takes home a Chevrolet Impala. “The average mileage on our cars is 108,000 miles. They are starting to fall apart, literally.”
And if a car breaks down at midnight, he told the control board, “there is no car to replace it.”
Deputies speak up
The budget crisis of 2004-05 interrupted the replacement cycle. But some large SUVs available to take home have been purchased under special grant programs, such as those for homeland security.
Road deputies — the have-nots — are tired of decrepit patrol cars when plush autos go to the brass and resources are spent on take-home autos for employees rarely summoned after hours.
The office budgets around $500,000 a year on maintenance, apart from the salaries of mechanics or the supervision of the inmates who help care for patrol cars and take-home cars.
“I am just flabbergasted that the administration is so blase about officer safety,” said one deputy who asked to remain unidentified because speaking publicly without permission violates the rules.
“If I’m working a 12-hour shift, shouldn’t I be given an adequate car? One with anti-lock brakes? An air bag? I’m forced to respond at high speeds in cars that are not adequate.”
Said another: “I have been in a few chases . . . and responded to an emergency call at 80 to 100 miles per hour. Not only is the operator of the vehicle at risk, but so are the people around you.”
Patrol deputies and personnel familiar with the fleet spoke to The Buffalo News for this article but asked to be unidentified to avoid departmental charges. They provided patrol-car horror stories: busted air conditioning, lame windshield wipers, bald tires — the last of which can be blamed on any deputy who does not flag the car and get it to the shop.
The critics also listed the nearly five dozen employees granted take-home cars — information generally known to only a small circle.
The list raises questions. While a bomb-squad technician needs a specially equipped vehicle at all hours, does the Holding Center superintendent?
Do internal affairs investigators?
Deputies who serve warrants or court papers?
Officials focused on administrative matters?
There used to be a full maintenance check for a patrol car every 3,000 miles. Now it’s every 4,000. Take-home cars receive a once-over every 5,000 miles. The vehicles usually are driven for the employees to the garage in Alden, behind the Erie County Home, and returned later in the day so the employees need not wait.
Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown hit a wall last week in trying to take back take-home cars driven by 20 of his unionized city officers. The Buffalo Police Benevolent Association forced the matter to arbitration, over Brown’s arguments that those 20 cops average $106,000 a year with overtime and other compensation.
While the sheriff’s pay scale lags behind other agencies, many of the deputies granted take-home vehicles make enough money to pay for a personal car to take them to and from work.
Sheriff on defense
In contrast to Brown, however, Howard expressed no concerns about his department’s take-home autos when interviewed recently. But Howard agreed more than he disagreed with the deputies complaining about the patrol fleet. He made these points:
• “There are police agencies in the country that actually believe in assigning all of their personnel take-home cars,” he said, explaining that a police car in a driveway — even an unmarked car recognizable as a police car — indicates an officer is nearby.
• Are all his cars safe?
“A lot of our fleet is more than three years old and relatively high mileage. I wouldn’t describe anything in service now as unsafe. But I think a better word would be to say, not reliable . . . older vehicles have just normal mechanical breakdowns.”
• He believes every take-home vehicle can be justified. For example, Doyle, his administrative chief, often works weekends or late into the evening and should not be expected to tie up a personal car that his family might need, Howard said.
Patronik, his technical services official, has responded from home to cases of missing youths, and his skill in retrieving e-mail has revealed a child’s whereabouts, Howard said.
• Howard wants to be able to call his appointees to work when needed.
“If I ever say, meet me at the office, I don’t have to hear, well, my wife has the car,” he said.
• The cars are for official use only.
“A single gross violation would result in their loss of the car,” Howard said. “Maybe not forever, but at least for a period of time.”
• The superintendent of his Holding Center, Robert Koch, and Correctional Facility, Donald Livingston, often go to their facilities at odd hours, “either because of emergencies or to make checks,” Howard said.
Wouldn’t their personal car get them there?
“It would,” the sheriff said, “but would it be fair to expect them to do that?”
He added that many of them are making less money than the people working for them.
Perk or necessity?
Several deputies interviewed said take-home cars are being awarded as perks, not necessities — a practice County Executive Chris Collins tried to curtail when he cut back, slightly, on the number of take-home cars in departments he controls.
The sheriff’s front-line employees are not united on the matter of take-home cars. The head of the Police Benevolent Association, Alan Rozanksy, a detective granted a take-home auto, said take-home cars allow the ranks that were winnowed by the budget crisis to cover more ground. Detectives can be sent at any hour to the county’s farthest reaches, he said, and they can get there quicker if they can respond from home.
Remember, he adds, that many of the take-home cars are in sad shape, too.
Still, nearly six of every 10 take-home autos in county government are sheriff’s vehicles, a ratio detailed by Comptroller Mark C. Poloncarz in a 2006 report.
“People want be be sure that their tax dollars are being used wisely,” Poloncarz said when asked recently about the sheriff’s fleet.
mspina@buffnews.com
There used to be a study somewhere that compared the cost of take home cars with the cost of fleet maintained vehicles. The story has it that takehome cars cost less to maintain therefore they became a standard...any thoughts
Ms. or Mr. want to be sheriff; what do you think about this?Originally Posted by Cadphael
I read and printed this article. I also sent an email to spina but received no answer. Take home cars have been in the sheriff's dept for as long as I can remember. Some of the smaller counties until recently didn't have 24 hour coverage. It was a benefit to have a deputy in your neighborhood who could and would respond from just down the street after hours.
I am in the camp of takehome cars for deputies. Any decision a Sheriff makes must be validated by the legislature and the input from the people is critical cause the people pay the bills. The responsibility/accountability is squarely on the Sheriff's shoulders. So in that respect what do you think?
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