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| 7/18/2008 11:56:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | Patrol cars purchased for Sheriff's Office
Mike Potter
Staff Writer
The Park County Sheriff's Office has purchased three vehicles to replace three high-mileage patrol vehicles, and they should be out on roads in the coming weeks.
Kathy Boyce, Park County Budget and Finance director, said the vehicles were purchased using Payment in Lieu of Taxes, or PILT, money, which are payments from the federal government to the local governments that help offset losses in property tax revenue due to nontaxable federal lands within their boundaries. Money was also used from the Sheriff's seizure fund.
Park County Undersheriff Monte Gore said the vehicles would replace patrol vehicles whose mileage was climbing, making them potentially unreliable in an emergency situation.
In an effort to save money, the SUVs that were purchased were pre-owned vehicles, he said, and would be outfitted with the three retiring vehicles' equipment.
Gore said he hopes to have the new patrol cars on the road in the coming weeks.
The three retiring vehicles will be given to the county for use in other departments, Gore said.
"They are still good for non-emergency use," Gore said.
The retiring vehicles' mileages are between 125,000 and 130,000 miles, and the replacement vehicles have from 10,000 to 30,000 miles on the odometers.
Pre-owned vehicles were looked at specifically for the lower price, he said. New Durangos sell for around $30,000. Two of the three used vehicles were purchased for $14,900 and the third was purchased for $13,900.
"We are trying to be as absolutely cost-effective as we can with our purchases," he said.
Patrol cars
in neighborhoods
Sheriff's deputies take the vehicles home with them when they are off duty for two reasons, Gore said.
Having patrol cars parked in neighborhoods provides a community presence, even when deputies are off-duty. And when an emergency situation arises, a deputy will always have the ability to be on duty quickly
"When we get any kind of an emergency, the officer responds from their home with lights and sirens to that emergency," he said.
Gore said that in a county the size of Park County, if a patrol vehicle was left at the Sheriff's Office, an off-duty deputy would have to drive to a sheriff's office vehicle in a personal vehicle, then respond to the scene of the emergency.
"It makes good sense to equip the vehicles and keep them with the deputies," he said.
Some jail sergeants are authorized to take Sheriff's Office vehicles home with them, Gore said.
In some cases, it saves the sergeants a long trip from Fairplay to Denver.
"They leave from their residence to pick up transports from down in Denver," he said.
Many of those jail deputies who take vehicles home are also certified to handle emergency situations, he said.
In the event that there was an emergency in the jail or elsewhere in the county, Gore said, the jail sergeants would have to respond immediately, something that would be impossible in a personal vehicle.
Sheriff's deputies who work in the jail were on scene during the Nash Ranch fire in southeastern Park County in June.
"We had two jail sergeants assisting in evacuations," he said.
Jail personnel have helped out during past emergency situations, including the Hayman and Snaking fires.
The policy of taking patrol vehicles home isn't a new on, he said.
"I checked with the sheriff. The policy to allow deputies to take their cars home has been around for 30 years," Gore said.
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