Do you think that off duty officers should use their official cars for personal business?

Answer 1

no, I don't even think they should carry them home at night. Off duty fire department members that are on call 24/7 don't carry the fire trucks home with them.

Answer 2

Why does your company give your top people company cars? As a perk, benefit, goodwill or necessary tool of the trade.

A police officer's unit is his office sometimes spending 12 hours or more in the thing. I know, I've been there. I personally didn't use it to go to Walmart because by department policy you had to respond to complaints if approached. That of course frees up on duty officers. But you could wind up handling a report off duty when you least expected. Not that I would avoid any criminal activity if off duty. It is the "nuisance" complaints that you would tend to run into off duty. It still happened with the unit parked in your driveway. Which is the other reason that officers take home units. The increased presence on the street is immeasureable.

On a more practical standpoint, departments are in fact saving tax payer money when police officers have take home cars since the officers are held to a higher standard of upkeep and generally don't abuse the vehicle as some non take home departments do. If you have ever seen a big city police department like new york, new orleans, etc. those units are driving 24 hours a day and tend not to get proper maintenance in essence shortening there life spam, etc.

I think instead of complaining people need to appreciate those officers for what they do which I can tell you is a lot more than just going to walmart on their off time and maybe next time you need one hopefully an off duty officer will be there!

Answer 3

It is routine in Indiana for officers to take their squads home and to use them for personal business including driving other family members and friends. Lots of square miles in Indiana and may only be one or two police on duty plus maybe a state patrol in whole county. Necessary for officer safety and as a small additional cost provides police presence visibility. I thought it was weird when first saw it but now realize how often the police respond from home when they know an incident needs their attention or another officer needs help. Citizens here get a lot "free" unpaid police service from this practice. No one I know objects, and many are happy when a state trooper moves into a rural community which has no community police, only some county service. Rural areas may not have the volume of crime but they have all types of crime including murder. The police here depend on off duty guys backing them up, when the closest on duty officer may be 45 minutes away or worse in bad weather.

Answer 4

Our department gives us take home fleet. They also allow us to use the car for "limited personal business."

I don't use the car for personal business... Why? Do I feel guilty? Nope. There's a huge catch. You are required to respond to any complaints in your vicinity while you're out. Now... I'll help when a bank or gas station gets robbed, or there's an assualt or a child missing... But if I'm running to the store for milk, on my day off, I don't want to work a minor fender bender in the parking lot... or have to give directions to 15 million people... or here's the best one that happens all the time... "Hey. Can I ask you a question... My brother got locked up last night..."

Nope... when I'm off work, holler at me if there's a problem. Otherwise, it's family time.

Answer 5

Yes. Simple answer is because the police car will be seen. A police car is a deterant. That is why they park them at banks. So bank robbers will think there is a police officer there. That is why they park unoccupied police cars on the side of the road. So speeders will think they might get a ticket.
Simple way to stop bank robberies and slow down speeders.

Answer 6

YES! The IL State Police Take their vehicles home because if an emergency comes up they can leave right from where ever they are! And the state police does not have a police station where they can keep all of their cars. Units meet on the side of the road for their Pre-Shift Breifing.

Answer 7

It all depends on the agency they work for. Some agencies allow officers to use their squadcars for personal business because they have to be "on call" 24/7. If you have an issue in your area, simply call the local department and ask if it is part of their policy. If it isn't, perhaps the chief/sheriff would be interested in following up on what you've said.

Answer 8

It is required for some to do so. An uncle of mine was an under sheriff. He was considered 'on duty' 24/7. He was required to drive his county car and carry his weapon at all times, even in church.

Answer 9

no as a daughter of a former police officer,and wife of one,why should the tax payers pay for the gas of off duty officers to run errands or whatever.

Answer 10

no not persional but for example a hair cutt b4 going to work thats for work, going to wal-mart for supplies (batterys for flash light etc) are all in conjunction with work and to preform at the level required by the city/county they are working for so you realy dont know if they are useing it for persional or professional. and realy why cant we. we dont get paid crap to take care of your problens, so does it realy matter. when people start being picky about he went to wal-mart in his police car (for what you dont know) it puts strain on the whole dept. so if our responce time is slow getting to your house what the robber breaks in we are sorry b/c out batteries went dead in out flash light b/c we couldn't be seen at wal-mart in our police car. does it matter we are there to keep you safe and get paid less than 50 thousand a year in a city like Atlanta, GA when a construction worker can make 2 times that and not be worried about being put in the line of fire for a stranger