Gas Prices Have First Responders Making Changes

May 30, 2008

When you see a police officer getting out of his car it usually means someone is getting a pricey ticket. But when an officer gets out at a gas station, it's only the city that will have to pay for the stop.

"It's a hard obstacle to overcome. We're just trying to come up some other cost saving ideas," says Hutchinson Police Captain Troy Hoover.

He says gas prices are starting to cut into the department's budget. And with officers spending much of their 12 hours shifts in patrol cars, getting about 10 miles per gallon, he says something has to change.

"Maybe doing some foot patrol, getting out of the cars and just walking and making contact with citizens and those kinds of things."

They've also discussed trading in cars like these for bikes, segues or motorcycles, but none of these seems to be the answer the department is looking for. "For general patrol duties it isn't condusive for that."

In Wichita, the police department hasn't made any adjustments because of gas costs just yet, but, the fire department has. Officials say they've met several times to talk about how they can make changes to make up for gas prices.

The problem is police and fire departments still have a responsibility regardless of how much gas costs. Captain Hoover adds, "We can't restrict things so much that we're not able to provide service to our citizens. That is first and foremost our top priority."

Hoover says it will just take trial and error before they can find a happy medium both the department and the public can afford.

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