How The State Budget is Impacting Local Patrols
By Diana Fairbanks
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 at 1:56 p.m.
Read more: Local, State, Economy, Crime, Trooper, Miles, Driving, Budget Cuts, Diana Fairbanks, Fact Finder, Fact Finder
As the state tries to balance its budget, many departments are being asked to make cuts and do without.
That includes the State Police.
Officers are now limited on how many miles they can drive in an effort to save gas and save the state money.
A viewer wanted to know how troopers are meeting these new mileage restrictions and still doing their jobs.
The answer is tonight's Fact Finder Report.
State police troopers travel our streets and highways patrolling and investigating crimes.
But these days' troopers are driving less and parking more.
Lt. Elliot says, "We were basically told 3 months ago we had to reduce the miles we drive our patrol cars by 25%."
For the Traverse City post, that means driving about 70,000 fewer miles this year.
Starting last month, a trooper working out of the Traverse City Post is now limited to an average of 55 miles for an 8 hour shift, or just over 1,300 miles a month covering Grand Traverse, Leelanau and Benzie Counties.
But Lt. Elliot says it's key to remember this is only an average.
Lt. Elliot says, "it's not like they hit their miles and their day is over, that's not the case at all. They are still responding to all emergency calls. People need to understand even with the mileage restrictions we're still there we're just doing things a bit differently than in the past."
So what are they doing differently?
More stationary patrols, more intersection enforcement, and more investigations that start at the post.
Lt. Elliot says, "if there's not a desperate need for us to go to the scene if someone has a criminal complaint they'd like to make and there isn't any scene to process they can come to the post and that reduces our travel somewhat."
So while they are finding ways to reduce travel, they are not necessarily reducing their daily workload, but there may be bigger concerns on the horizon.
Diana asks, "Do you find it's hindering your ability to fight crime?" Lt. Elliot replies "I don't think it hinders it. The thing you can't measure is how much are we deterring crime? Not being mobile, not being able to be around the county as much. I can't really say how much of an impact that's having. Now common sense would tell you that if you're not able to get out into some of those remote areas there maybe some things happening there that are undetected."
He says, since the new limits have only been in place for about a month now, it's too soon to examine the broader effects. So for now, they are hard at work, figuring out a new way to work.
Lt. Elliot says "the bottom line is we're doing the best we can with restrictions we have. The guys are being pro-active and still responding to emergency calls it's just that we have to do things a little differently"
The current mileage restrictions are for this fiscal year which ends in September. But Lt. Elliot admits with the current state of the economy he's not sure when the restrictions might be lifted. He says the restrictions for northern lower Michigan are projected to save the state about 400 thousand dollars.
So what do you think about this? Have you noticed a difference in patrols? Do you think this is a good way to save the state money, or is it a dangerous and short sighted plan? Leave your comments below.
