When it comes to the wish list for the Shreveport Police Department (SPD), one of the top priorities is take home cars for Shreveport police officers. Leaving aside the issue of whether or not the officer must either live in the city limits or within a certain radius of the city limits, it’s hard to find anyone in Shreveport that opposes this goal.
The advantages of take home cars are many and they include the following:
1. A police car assigned to only one officer will be invariably better maintained by the police officer versus a pool car driven by many different officers.
2. Substantially, less miles will be logged on a vehicle used for 8-hour shifts versus one driven for up to 24 hours a day, which reduces routine maintenance and extends the useful life of the car.
3. Marked police cars driven to and from an officer's residence and then parked at the residence is not only a crime deterrent but also provides a positive community engagement for citizens and police officers.
4. Police officers with a take home vehicle are technically on duty anytime driving that vehicle, even for routine authorized errands, and thus subject to calls for assistance of on-duty officers.
So why not accomplish this goal with a humongous order of police patrol cars?
The first hurdle is supply. These vehicles cannot be purchased on the lots of retail car dealers. There is a backlog of orders with Ford Explorers, which is the SPD vehicle of choice. Vehicles can be ordered although promised delivery dates are very fluid.
The second challenge is the most critical one--funding for vehicles. At a cost of approximately $70,000 for purchase and upfitting with graphics, radios/computers and other needed equipment. And once new vehicles are received there is a long delay with local vendors who provide these services. SPD received 40 Explorers in November of last year and 6 in December Of these less than five are now in service. It is anticipated that all of these will be in service by the end of this year's first quarter.
This new batch of SPD vehicles will not provide any take home cars.
Police cars are subject to many accidents due to the nature of their use. Currently, 15 are not on the road due to vehicle accidents this year with 2 or 3 being totaled. The new cars will help fill this void in available pool vehicles.
Additionally, SPD has many old Ford Crown Victorias currently in use. These vehicles have substantial miles, and they are basically beyond repair since replacement parts are not available. New SPD vehicles will replace these aging, obsolete vehicles.
Thus, the revolving door of vehicles being out of service due to wrecks along with the process of rotating out of very old vehicles results in a zero gain for SPD in serviceable vehicles for pool cars. Thus, additional purchases will be needed in upcoming years just to keep up with the needed number of patrol cars. much less additional vehicles for take home.
If crime prevention and arrest of criminal offenders are a top priority for the Arceneaux administration and the Shreveport City Council, then hard discussions must be had on the impact/value of take home cars versus other funding priorities for the city. Bottomline is, a worthy goal but getting there is the mountain to be climbed.