Policies and Practices of Public-Owned Vehicles in Georgia Sheriffs Departments

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1 1 Policies and Practices of Public-Owned Vehicles in Georgia Sheriffs Departments By Chelsea Copeland and Ryan Porter Decision Tools for Public Management PUBA 3100 Mary Wickersham April 24, 2014 College of Coastal Georgia

2 2 Policies and Practices of Public-Owned Vehicles in Georgia Sheriffs Departments Introduction Take-home police vehicles have been a topic of great debate in law enforcement agencies over the last two decades. A departmental policy decision to offer assigned vehicles from a department pool or to use take-home vehicles is generally but not always -- based on a somewhat murky understanding of which option is the most cost-effective, due to obligations of taxpayer-funded departments to control spending. Some departments are now, however, questioning the cost-effectiveness of their practices. The purpose of this research is to investigate the controversial debate by analyzing the pros and cons, cost benefit analysis studies, and the policy requirements of take-home vehicles in a sample of Georgia s sheriff s departments. This paper explores three hypotheses based on Georgia Sheriffs decisions and justifications for take-home or assigned vehicles for officers as measured in a survey of a sample of sheriffs offices across the state. Descriptive and statistical analysis are used, along with existing literature on the debate, to learn more about the practices of Georgia sheriff s departments. The hypotheses for this project are the following: H 1: Over 75% of survey respondents (Georgia Sheriff Departments) offer take-home cars to their officers. H 2: The appearance/condition of take-home vehicles is superior to pool vehicles. H 3: The majority of Georgia Sheriffs Departments justify allowing take-home vehicles for faster response to emergency events, as well as, on call duties for officers. Background Some sheriffs are big believers in take-home policies. Sheriff Jimmy McDuffie of Effingham County is adamant that his county and deputies benefit from the county s policies regarding the Sheriff s office fleet. He is a huge supporter of his department s take-home car policy. McDuffie says, Having deputies with their cars at the ready, instead of having to go to a central point somewhere and retrieve their vehicles, comes in handy in times of crisis (Donahue 2011). He also gives an example of a recent event that possibly saved a deputy s life. McDuffie tells the story of two off-duty sheriff deputies who were on the way to work when they assisted a Georgia State Patrol officer in a motorcycle chase. With the help of the two deputies, a gun was taken from the motorist and a potentially lethal act avoided. Sheriff McDuffie questions what could have happened if the deputies had not assisted the GSP in backup (Donahue 2011). Take-home police cars may now, however, be nearing the end of the road for many other agencies as they reevaluate overall costs, according to a news article released by USA Today in December of 2012 (Evans, Tuohy 2012). Although there have been many studies on this subject

3 3 and there are obvious benefits of having take-home police cars, many of these agencies are thinking about restricting officers from taking their vehicles home or charging fees to officers who want to take their vehicles home because of tight budgets (Evans, Tuohy 2012). One of the major cities that is planning to make a change is Indianapolis. They plan to charge officers a fee to help offset the tight budget and increasing gasoline prices. According to the article, this type of fee is becoming a national trend in the U.S. Darrel Stephens, executive director of Major Cities Chiefs Association, who represents the leaders of the largest 63 law enforcement agencies in the U.S., recently said that many of the biggest departments have looked at adopting cost sharing policies between the officer and the department, along with other restrictions on take-home cars. James Pasco, director of the National Fraternal Order of Police, the USA's largest police labor organization, believes that there has been too much focus on the dollar amount spent in recent years as opposed to looking at the various benefits offered by allowing officers to take their assigned vehicles home (Evans, Tuohy). With the charge to end take-home police vehicles, it is vital that the pros and cons of allowing officers to take their assigned vehicles home are reassessed. Pros and Cons There are both pros and cons when it comes to the topic of take-home police cars for different departments across the country. For law enforcement, it is a balancing act. The chart below lists some of the advantages and disadvantages. Pros Cons Less wear on the vehicles that are assigned or taken home. Rising prices of gas could cause the cost of take-home vehicles to go up. Faster response times for officers that have taken home vehicles. It can be costly for large department to provide a car for every officer. Lower accident costs are associated with take-home police vehicles. Take-home vehicles serve as a crime deterrent in the neighborhoods where officers live because they are more visible in the community. No need to have to construct, maintain, and or have a secured lot to park police cars if officers are allowed to take them home. To offset rising costs, some officers are beginning to get charged monthly to offset the high prices of gasoline for the department. Budget cuts are not allowing departments to purchase enough vehicles to let every officer have a vehicle to take-home. In some departments, take-home cars are a perk: officers are required to have

4 4 Officers who have take-home vehicles tend to perform duties even while off duty if it is needed. Saves time on officers having to check cars in and out. Saves time on officers having to place or remove all of their gear from the vehicle. Officers don t have to drive to the department to begin the work shift; once in the car they can begin working right away, if the department allows this. a longer tenure at departments before they are assigned a take-home vehicle. This may cause some problems among officers. Cost Benefit Analysis A Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) is a tool that can be used to weigh the pros and cons from a financial perspective and can help a local government identify ways to improve a program, determine if a program represents a wise use of public funds, and replace perception with facts in order to make sound business decisions. However, it is not possible to put a monetary value on everything. Economists absolutely recognize that not all benefits or costs can be measured monetarily. The financial pros and cons are typically only a portion of what matters when making a decision. Economists enjoy pointing out both what cannot be measured with money and also finding clever ways to measure or estimate the monetary value of what can contribute to understanding the costs and benefits of a decision ( Frequently Asked Questions on Mortality Risk Valuation, 2014). The U.S Environmental Protection Agency states, If the total benefits exceed the total costs, then the policy is said to pass a benefit-cost test ( Frequently Asked Questions on Mortality Risk Valuation, 2014). For example, the cost of allowing officers to drive their assigned vehicles home can be represented in a monetary value based on miles driven, gas price, and repair cost. However, it is harder to place a monetary value on benefits it would provide, such as deterring crime in the neighborhood or faster response time for emergency calls. Methods An anonymous survey was conducted with 27 Georgia Sheriff Department s via a webbased survey tool. The Georgia Sheriff s Association agreed to send out the survey, but they did not follow through, despite repeated calls. In order to collect data, a random sample of sheriffs offices were contacted either by phone or via with the link to the survey, netting a smaller

5 5 number of surveys. Thirteen multiple choice, yes-no, and short response questions were randomly distributed to the Georgia Sheriff Departments to represent different demographic regions, population sizes, and cultural influences. Survey questions addressed the Department s vehicle policies and their reasoning for allowing their particular method of handling the fleet. Some sheriffs were asked to consider forwarding the survey link to their cohorts in other areas to increase the number of respondents. Demographic data was used to analyze the data to get a better picture of the current policies and practices of Sheriffs Departments across the state. Results Table 1 Table 1 describes the survey and provides responses to survey questions. Take-home Vehicles vs. Pool Vehicles Survey 1. Which of the following best describes your department's policy on sheriff's office vehicles? Take-home Program 85.2% 23 Pool Vehicles 3.7% 1 Modified Program 11.1% 3 2. What is the county's population? 120,000 or more 18.5% 5 120,000-90, % 4 90,000-60, % 2 60,000-30, % 2 30,000-10, % 9 10,000 or less 18.5% 5 3. What type of area do you work in? Urban 7.4% 2 Rural 81.5% 22 Suburban 11.1% 3 4. If you allow officers to take their cars home, what is the main reason that this is your departmental policy?

6 6 Convenience for officers 7.4% 2 Distance from home to work 0.0% 0 Response time 29.6% 8 On-call duties of officers 29.6% 8 Saves money for department 14.8% 4 Offsets low wages for officers 18.5% 5 Other (please specify) 2 5. Are officers required to live within a certain radius to be eligible to take-home a vehicle? Yes 77.8% 21 No 22.2% 6 6. Are officers allowed to take vehicles to their homes across county or state lines? Yes 63.0% 17 No 37.0% Are the sheriff's office cars allowed for personal use? Yes, with no limitations 0.0% 0 Yes, with limitations 29.6% 8 No 70.4% Are off duty officers required to take enforcement action while driving take-home cars for personal use? Yes 75.0% 18 No 25.0% 6 9. On average, how much does your department spend on providing a secured parking facility? Answer Options Response Count Which of the following is true about the appearance/condition of the vehicles in your fleet?

7 7 Take-home vehicles are taken better care of than pool vehicles Pool vehicles are taken better care of than takehome vehicles 11. How often do your vehicles have to be replaced? 100.0% % 0 Less than 20 months 3.7% 1 Every 20 to 30 months 7.4% 2 Every 31 to 40 months 3.7% 1 Every 41 to 50 months 18.5% 5 Every 51 to 60 months 11.1% 3 Every 61 to 70 months 33.3% 9 More than 70 months 22.2% Are the officers limited in the miles they drive while on duty? Yes 3.7% 1 No 96.3% For officers that are allowed to take cars home, what is your off-duty protocol? Leave directly from home and report to event 77.8% 21 Drive to district, be briefed on event, and then report to event 22.2% 6 Survey Results indicate that 23 out of the 27 respondents, 85.19%, allow take-home vehicles for their sheriffs department. This confirms our first hypothesis that over 75% of survey respondents offer take-home cars to their officers. Other findings were that 1 (3.70%) department offers a pool vehicle program, and 3 (11.11%) departments offer a modified program. Hypothesis 1 was supported by the survey findings.

8 8 Further analysis substantiated the hypothesis that the appearance/condition of take-home vehicles is far superior to pool vehicles. The question was answered unanimously with 100% of the respondents saying the condition of take-home vehicles surpass that of pool vehicles. Our third hypothesis, that the majority of Georgia Sheriffs Departments justify allowing take-home vehicles for faster response to emergency events, as well as on call duties for officers, was also confirmed. Response time and on call duties for officers account for a total of 59.26% of the reasons the department offers take-home vehicle programs. Offsets lower wages of officers accounted for 18.52% and saves money for department accounted for 14.81%.

9 9 Conclusion In conclusion, the survey provided statistical analysis that confirmed all three of our hypotheses. During this process we obtained interesting information that described the practices of Georgia Sheriffs Departments. We trust that the survey represents factual information, but if this process was repeated, we would suggest allowing as much time as possible to collect the maximum amount of responses to provide a more accurate analysis.

10 10 References Cost-Benefit Analysis, Libary Economic Liberty. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from Frequently Asked Questions on Mortality Risk Valuation, National Center for Environmental Economics. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from Donahue, Patrick Why Sheriff Likes Take-home Cars. Effinghamherald.com (August 29), Evans, T., & Tuohy, J. (2012, December 30). Take-home police cars may be nearing end of the road. USA Today. Retrieved April 15, 2014, from nation/20 12/12/29/take-home-police-cars/ /