Police Get Creative to Save Energy Costs

If you think you have it bad with the skyrocketing cost of oil and lifestyle changes, the police are pinched by high gas prices and are amid organizational changes to adapt to the economy and adopt new technologies.

Police get creative

Initiatives are underway around the country, including filling-up with lower octane gasoline, installing GPS receivers in patrol cars to increase dispatching efficiency, increasing penalties for false alarms, eliminating the act of responding to non-emergency 911 calls, and doubling the manpower per car, the New York Times reported last month.

“The average officer thinks that if they’re constantly on the move, they’re doing a better job of preventing an incident from occurring,” said Chief Ric Moss of Woodstock, Georgia.

“Candidly some of them have said, ‘Well, gee, you know, it’s hot out there.’ Well, if you go in that store, you’ll cool off, you’ll get to know the manager and you’ll get your presence known. We’ve had to educate them as to the benefits.”

Brookfield, Wisconsin is implementing a 10-point plan including enforcing anti-idling, reducing mileage driven per shift, doubling up in cars, and developing relations with business owners to maximize time in the streets.

Rural Illinois is turning off air conditioning in cars, reducing roving patrols, and using the phone more.

“I’ve always had a theory that one of the greatest inventions was police cars, because it made us more mobile,” said Police Chief Frank Hopper of Gainesville, Georgia.

“And one of the worst inventions was air-conditioning, because we rolled our windows up.”

Stick with Ford but please Escape

Earlier this year, SUNY Cobleskill police purchased an all-wheel-drive hybrid Ford Escape, under a state contract of $27,659.

It’s the same story in Dayton, Kentucky, where police are currently soliciting bids to procure an Escape.

“Hopefully we are going to have less gas consumption,” said Dayton Police Chief Jim Werner. “It is more of a ‘let’s see what happens.’ There are no guarantees.”

United States police departments traditionally patrol in Ford Crown Victoria “Interceptor” packages. These vehicles have V-6 or V-8 engines and offer low miles-per-hour and miles-per-gallon metrics.

While the cost of a hybrid Escape is about $8,000 more expensive than a typical Vic, the Escape receives double the gas mileage, translating on average to less cars purchased in a given timeframe.

Everyone isn’t happy, such as Athens, Ohio police who rejected the Escape.

But it’s something Newburyport, Massachusetts should consider on the heels of a denial of a $26,000 transfer to buy a new police cruiser. I didn’t ask the chief but I will guess a Crown Vic was intended to be bought, for we already know the city’s police fleet is not green.

If nothing else, American police should look across the Atlantic and think about European police cars, such as the 52mpg Peugeot 308.

For other ideas of police cars in use around the world, please visit policecar.net for a visual tour of Asian, Russian, and Australian police cars.

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