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Dallas cop with no car is routine
By Steve Thompson
The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS — A recent audit of the Dallas police patrol car fleet found cars as old as 1995 that should have been used up and retired a decade ago. Other cars turned up that department officials didn’t even know they had.
Police brass admit that much of the blame for recent patrol car shortages rests with the agency’s own mismanagement.
And for officers tired of driving the aging and often broken-down cars, things may get worse before they get better.
But there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, says the agency’s new man in charge of the cars.
“I’ve instructed our guys that it’s going to taste bad for about six months,” said Assistant Chief Floyd Simpson, head of patrol. “Within that time, I think we’ll have a fleet that will have cars in it no older than four years.”
Until this summer, the fleet was managed by civilians within the agency’s budget office. Now the responsibility has been placed with Chief Simpson and the sworn officers who report to him.
About six weeks ago – about the time that WFAA and The Dallas Morning News reported on officers showing up for work only to find so many cars in the shop that there were too few to drive – Chief Simpson assigned a lieutenant to count them all.
“I wanted him to go and physically count every car that we have,” the assistant chief said.
‘Managerial failure’
Among other things, the lieutenant found a patrol car from 1994 that still had not been driven the 100,000 miles that would prompt the city to replace it. Normally that should happen in about three years.
“It was surprising,” the chief said. “And I will not shy away that we had managerial failure with our fleet.”
The 1994 squad car was among many that had been driven so little that years had passed since they should have reached 100,000 miles. Of the patrol fleet’s 681 cars, about 60 are 2003s and older.
Five of these are 1995s. Two are 1996s. Three are 1997s. Ten are 2000s.
“I don’t know if it’s a matter of them not wanting to drive the cars or what the issues were,” Chief Simpson said. “The fact of the matter is that my staff found some cars that were not being utilized. We’ve put those cars back in service.”
Chief Simpson estimated it could take six months for officers to put the requisite 100,000 miles on them.
It’s not good news for patrol officers who say driving clunkers hurts morale and poses hazards.
“Nobody wants to drive around in a 1995 Caprice that has more seniority than probably half the officers in the department,” said patrol Officer Joe Hawkins.
Officers are generally unhappy when they have to do their shifts in 100-degree heat wearing steaming bulletproof vests and with no air conditioning.
“I had one a couple weeks ago that the air wasn’t working,” said patrol Officer Rick Campbell. “It was one of the older models. You do your eight-hour shift and just get through.”
Driving the old cars is also costing the agency money. One 1995 Caprice has been driven 82,000 miles and had $45,679 worth of work done on it, city records show. Normally, a car should get through its 100,000 miles in about three years with about $11,000 in maintenance costs, city officials say.
Mechanics needed
Despite recent shortages, city officials say that overall there is an adequate number of cars in the police fleet. They are scheduled to brief the City Council’s Public Safety Committee this afternoon.
In addition to better management on the part of police, a city report says more mechanics are needed.
The cars are maintained by the same city department as garbage trucks and other city vehicles, one that last month had 39 vacancies out of 150 positions. About 10 of those have been filled recently.
Several years ago, WFAA and The News reported similar problems with management of the department’s fleet, and officials vowed to fix them.
Chief Simpson said this time it will be different.
“The difference is that I’ll keep my foot on the gas pedal, because I want to make sure that we’ve got good stuff out there for our guys to use,” he said. “It’s on me now, and we’ll make it better.”
Copyright 2008 The Dallas Morning News