Many favor take-home car system

Most departments require that take-home cars not leave their jurisdiction.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
Take-home government vehicles: Perk or practical?
In general, government employees granted the use of take-home cars don't pay for repairs (unless they cause a crash), tires, insurance, gas or routine maintenance.
The annual savings to employees who don't have to buy or lease and maintain a vehicle for work can top 3,000 to 4,000.
The Vindicator asked select police and fire departments to list the number of marked and unmarked vehicles driven back and forth to work.
Many departments surveyed embrace the idea of take-home cars, such as Liberty and Warren police, citing safety reasons and saying it saves money by prolonging the life of the vehicles.
"The safest place [for the cars] is in officers' driveways," said Warren Police Chief John Mandopoulos. "Also, we found it's less expensive to go with one officer, one car."
Columbiana Police Chief John Krawchyk, the only member of his department with a take-home car, said the idea of providing every officer with a take-home car was discussed many years ago and shot down by the then-city manager. "After the discussion, the answer was 'too much money, too much maintenance,'" he said.
Krawchyk said his department buys one cruiser each year and retires the oldest. He's not opposed to take-home cars for officers but said his department's system works very well and means no car on the road is more than five years old.
Some police departments -- Austintown, for example -- have scaled back on the use of take-home cars, saying cost analysis shows they save money by limiting the number of vehicles driven home.
With few exceptions, such as Youngstown and Warren, departments that have a take-home car program do not allow the vehicles to leave their jurisdiction. As one official in Boardman put it, police cars are a crime deterrent -- and if not parked in the township, they don't benefit Boardman.
Mostly the same
Policies of departments surveyed were generally uniform, with employees granted no personal use of the vehicle except for periods when they are designated as being on call. Cars are expected to be for business only which, in the case of police, can often include side jobs.
Government cars driven home are required to be in a garage or driveway, not parked in the street overnight. The Vindicator, however, found Youngstown and Mahoning County cars parked on streets overnight.
Some departments surveyed require that cars be returned to the police or fire station when the assigned driver is on vacation or leave. Not all drivers adhere to the policy.
A proponent of take-home cars is Liberty Police Chief Anthony Slifka, who has extensive research materials to support his position. He, a captain and two detective sergeants drive home unmarked cars. Eleven patrol officers and two sergeants drive marked cruisers home. All of the officers live in the township.
Slifka said use of a take-home car encourages officers to live in the township. Four officers who live outside the township do not have take-home cars, he said.
Issue of authority
Slifka said if Liberty officers took cars home outside their jurisdiction, to Hubbard for example, they'd have no authority. "Liberty officers are on duty as soon as they get in their cars at home and can answer calls on their way to work if necessary," he said.
The chief said research has shown that take-home cars last longer because they're not used "24/7." He said Liberty keeps its police cars for nine years, roughly three times longer than departments that use their cars round the clock.
Mandopoulos agreed, saying Warren's take-home cars also last eight to nine years. He added that it's not safe to drive older, mileage-laden cruisers at high speed, which is sometimes required.
Slifka said the officers' feeling of ownership means the cars get better care. He said maintenance costs are low because wear and tear is dramatically decreased.
"With more cars out there, people think we have three times the number we have," the chief said.
Slifka said the only downside is the initial purchase of the cars, something smaller departments likely can't afford. After the initial cost, take-home cars save money, he said.
Looking ahead
"People like to see police cars in their neighborhood," Slifka said, citing another benefit. "The public here has been very supportive. The replacement levy passed and that comes from what they [the voters] see."
Liberty officers working side jobs charge for their service and also charge the business 5 per hour extra for the police car, Slifka said. The extra money goes to the township.
Having officers work side jobs in the township -- with their police cars in plain view -- is a crime deterrent, he said. A Liberty police car parked at Wendy's, for example, means the place is less likely to be robbed, he said.
Among those who reject the take-home practice is Austintown Police Chief Robert Gavalier. He said that, except for the detective on duty, K-9 officer and Drug Abuse Resistance Education officer, no one takes home police cars.
"Although I am permitted to take a vehicle home, I choose not to," Gavalier said. "In an effort to save money, we eliminated all unmarked vehicles from being taken home and auctioned off all spare and confiscated vehicles."
Saved enough to buy
Gavalier said the money saved from eliminating most take-home cars enabled the department to buy one new marked vehicle. The vehicle replaced one that had more than 200,000 miles on it.
Gavalier provided an analysis that shows a potential annual savings of nearly 6,000 achieved by not having six detectives take home unmarked police cars.
Boardman Township Administrator Jason Loree said 10 marked vehicles, including one used by the D.A.R.E. officer and two used by K-9 officers, are taken home. The chief and 19 other officers have unmarked take-home vehicles.
Based on trustees' policy, no take-home cars go outside the township, Loree said.
Loree said some of the 20 unmarked cars -- "the bigger gas guzzlers" -- may be sold and replaced with more economical cars. The administrator, who is scaling back the number of take-home cars, said he is looking into centralized fleet management for all township-owned vehicles.
Fleet lists given
The Youngstown Police Department, meanwhile, took a month to respond to the newspaper's public request about take-home vehicles. The fleet list provided does not accurately reflect newly acquired vehicles and did not specify which vehicles on the list are marked/unmarked or if the assigned drivers take the cars home.
Other police and fire departments that supplied the newspaper with fleet lists had the marked cars separated from the unmarked, and some used a form of highlighting to show which cars are taken home.
Capt. Dave Williams, YPD services division commander, using his own fleet list, aided The Vindicator in its review of take-home cars.
The list shows 51 marked vehicles and 83 unmarked vehicles. Cars are assigned to the chief and 76 officers, three of whom are assigned three cars each. The mayor, YPD chaplain and garage foreman are also on the list as having an assigned vehicle.
Williams said that, with few exceptions, the officers with assigned cars -- mostly unmarked -- take them home. He said motorcycle officers take the bikes home, too.
Eight additional officers not on the YPD fleet list drive take-home cars provided to them by local task forces.
YPD has 178 officers.
By union contract since 1993, YPD turn supervisors who live in the city have been granted the use of take-home cars. In practice, though, some -- not all -- turn supervisors who live outside the city drive government cars home, according to the fleet list of assigned cars.
An amended city ordinance from 2002 that deals with vehicles does not specify whether cars may be taken home by police department employees who live outside the city.
Williams said government cars are driven home by officers who live outside the city.
He said most of the officers who live outside the city reside in neighboring communities that aren't far away, especially for those who travel Interstate 680.
Documents not supplied by YPD but obtained by The Vindicator from property and computer tracking records show 17 officers with assigned cars live in Canfield, Boardman, Salem, Campbell, Columbiana, Lowellville, Poland and Austintown.
Rating system
The city ordinance, meanwhile, has a rating system for car utilization. Employees classified "AA" have 24-hour privileges including personal use of the vehicle during periods they are on call; those classified "A" have 24-hour privileges but no personal use; and those classified "B" drive the cars for eight hours only, no take-home privileges.
Williams acknowledged that actual practice conflicts with the ordinance.
He said that, over the years, many of the officers with a "B" classification have been assigned take-home cars. He said when George McKelvey was mayor, take-home car rules grew less and less restrictive and the present administration has kept the status quo.
Williams said there just isn't enough room downtown to park all police vehicles in secure conditions. He said the city is working on providing more parking.
"If you look at the big picture, it makes sense to take cars home," Williams said. "I think it's worth it, it makes us more efficient and if done fairly rewards the guys who deserve it." He said officers, who have police radios in their take-home cars, often respond to calls when traveling to and from work. "We're officers 24 hours a day and expected to do what we can if off duty," he said.
The Vindicator has come across several reports over the years where off-duty officers participated in some fashion to help out their on-duty colleagues.
Mayor's goal
Mayor Jay Williams said there are union contracts and city policies that haven't been modified in years, such as the ones dealing with take-home cars. His goal is not to make policy and put it on a shelf but review as needed.
The mayor is aware of the inconsistencies -- such as select vehicles leaving the city -- and said there may be a need to modify the take-home program when it gets reviewed early next year. The review will include whether cars should leave the city, he said. "Who is assigned a car and why I haven't got into, that's fallen within the confines of the police department," the mayor said. "I guess my general statement is that, to the extent possible, [the policies] should be consistent."
He said there must be some legitimate, valid reason to assign a take-home car. He wants the program to be administered with professionalism and common sense.
meade@vindy.com