INDIANA — Part of your taxpayer dollars go toward police budgets, things like filling up the tanks of patrol cars.
But with gas as high as it is right now, how is it impacting police working to serve you?
Some agencies are tweaking their operations to cut back on the amount of gas they’re using.
“Right now we’re about a month short on our budget to be able to fuel our cars for 12 months,” Tom Vaughn the Southport Police Chief said. “That money has to come from somewhere, so what do we not buy to make sure we have fuel.”
Vaughn says their budget is set every day, so it is hard to guess what gas prices are going to do.
In response, the Southport Police Department has cut the number of cars they have on the streets.
They went from one officer in a patrol car to two.
He says it doesn’t compromise the officers’ safety, adding that it helps with backup already being on the scene of an incident.
SPD is also increasing foot and bike patrol.
“[We have] One car out, [to] 4 bicycles, something like that to try and cut down,” Vaughn said.
Vaughn is also asking officers to limit how much they are idling.
The Greenwood Police Department is doing the same.
Assistant Police Chief Matthew Fillenwarth said, sometimes letting the car run is vital.
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