Hundreds of Dallas police cars not working
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The biggest obstacle in fighting Dallas crime may be finding a working police car.
On any given day, hundreds of cruisers may be lined up for repair; that means fewer officers on the streets.
On one day earlier this month, the Dallas Police Department had 210 cars out of commission from a fleet of 700. Some have been idle for more than a year.
Officers find it frustrating when they have to spend up to an hour of their day searching for a car to drive.
"We've had problems with some of our officers just waiting around trying to wait for a vehicle," said Sgt. Richard Santiesteban, vice-president of the Dallas chapter of the National Latino Peace Officers Association. "It seems like we just can't get enough vehicles to help get our officers out there."
The problem, city officials say, is a shortage of mechanics. The city is in the process of adding 39 to its staff of 150 to catch up on repairs.
Current employees can't keep up with the workload of broken down cars and switching out vehicles that have passed their mileage limits.
Last week, southeast patrol was operating without 50 of its 99 squad cars. It's not only frustrating to officers, but the city is unable to give citizens the kind of coverage it wants to provide.
"We'd like to have as many one-man elements; one-man officers, one person officers as we can," said interim Assistant City Manager Chief David Brown. "Sometimes we have to drive two-officer vehicles more than we'd like."
The city says it has been having a hard time finding qualified mechanics to work on police vehicles. The pay ranges from $11 to $22 an hour depending on experience.
The money for these new positions will come from city funds set aside for critical jobs.
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Re: Hundreds of Dallas police cars not working
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The city says it has been having a hard time finding qualified mechanics to work on police vehicles. The pay ranges from $11 to $22 an hour depending on experience.
Well there's your problem!
Re: Hundreds of Dallas police cars not working
Maybe if the city creates a take-home vehicle policy then the cars can last longer. Some departments have implemented a policy as such, and it had saved that city a great amount of money. An example of this is my department, Miami Police Department in the state of Florida. We pay for the oil changes, and we must live with the specified counties to be able to participate in the take-home program. Whomever is in charged of your fleet can give us a call 305-603-6640. Thank you.
