Brooksville Police Can Take Home Patrol Cars

BROOKSVILLE - Coming soon to driveways throughout the county: Brooksville Police Department patrol cars.

The City Council on Monday unanimously approved a policy to assign officers to a car and allow them to take the vehicles home.

Council members agreed with recommendations by City Manager Jennene Norman-Vacha and Police Chief George Turner, who said that the policy likely would save the city in costs to replace and maintain vehicles and would be a valuable perk to retain and hire officers.

The council did, however, ask Norman-Vacha to provide a follow-up analysis in October to gauge how the policy is working.

"I think it's a benefit to everybody - to the officer and to the public at large," Council member Joe Bernardini said before the vote. "I think it's long overdue."

During a presentation before the council, Capt. Steve Mislyan of the Longboat Key Police Department said that at law enforcement agencies in Florida, take-home policies "are a standard way of doing business."

Agencies ranging in size from the Dade City Police Department to the Miami-Dade Police Department all have take-home vehicle programs.

"If you don't, you're the exception to the rule," said Mislyan, a former colleague of Brooksville Chief George Turner who gave the presentation at Turner's request.

Mislyan has written several research articles on take-home policies, including a dissertation for a master's degree in criminal justice administration. He has given the same presentation to other municipalities throughout the state.

Take-home policies date back as early as 1970, Mislyan said. Studies since then have consistently shown that the policy reduces maintenance costs because cars are not running constantly from shift to shift and officers take better care of the cars they are assigned to, he said.

The lifespan of a car is typically extended by several thousand miles and as many as two to three years, Mislyan said. The Sarasota County Sheriff's Department has reported annual maintenance cost savings of 30 to 50 percent.

The policy helps increase productivity by eliminating the need for officers to drive to the station and transfer from personal cars to patrol cars and back again. That is especially crucial when a large event requires calling in off-duty officers, he said.

Today, with in-car computers, officers can file reports from the car and cut down on the time spent at the station.

Mislyan said he has interviewed young police recruits, including some who applied to Brooksville and declined offers to work here because they wouldn't be assigned a car.

"They're not looking for a 4 percent pension benefit, they're looking for a take-home car," he said.

The cost savings depend on how much off-duty driving an officer does, Mislyan said. Brooksville's policy, he said, is "very restrictive," which bodes well for savings.

Officers are allowed to drive the car to and from work only, though some quick errands on the way will be permitted at Bernardini's suggestion.

"I don't have a problem with stopping by the store to pick up a gallon of milk on the way home," Bernardini said.

The policy had been limited to officers who lived within 15 miles of the station on Veterans Avenue. Bernardini recommended that be changed to include all of Hernando County.

Council member Lara Bradburn questioned the efficiency in that, but it wasn't enough for her to oppose the policy as a whole.

"It's a win-win for the city, for enforcement and for protection of the city residents, and it also let's us compete in the recruitment area," Turner said Tuesday.

The department already has the 19 cars needed to assign one to each officer, Turner said. All but two patrol officers live in Hernando County, and all of them are expected to take advantage of the new perk, Turner said.

Some officers were expected to sign the policy agreement as early as Tuesday, so cars will likely start going home this week, he said.

"The officers are very happy," Turner said. "They all know they're in the spotlight now and have to make sure they follow the policy as it is intended. I'm sure they're all going to do the professional thing."

David Folds, a resident of the historic district who had come to Monday's council meeting to voice concerns about speeding near his home, said he was glad the council approved the policy.

"It's important to me, if I have a police officer as a neighbor, to have his car in the driveway," Folds said. "It makes you feel a little more secure."