What do you say when#2...

[Ragnarok]

If I could post in the other thread, I would have. I was just wondering about those take-home cars. Those of you that have them, do literally just drive them to and from work? I mean, you have another car for personal use, right? You don't run errands in them.

2 State Troopers live in my complex. I've never seen the cars anywhere but parked. Or obviously going-to/returning from shift (the uniform is a giveaway).

My birthtown in Indiana, they've changed the rules (bigger bugdet), and allow officers to drive the cars home. I don't know. Doesn't seem like a great idea to me, in a rural area. Big advertisement "COP INSIDE HERE--->". Of course they don't get big city problems down there, but still....

[Piggy]

I'm not aware of any crimes that happen in a big city that don't happen in a rural area. The only difference is your backup takes longer to arrive.

The majority of Indiana departments allow take home cars. Some of them have policies on responding to incidents off duty and some have a radius where they allow the Officer to use their vehicle for personal use. Others such as the State Police can use them for personal use anywhere within the state.

[SeVere]

I'm not aware of any crimes that happen in a big city that don't happen in a rural area. The only difference is your backup takes longer to arrive.

The majority of Indiana departments allow take home cars. Some of them have policies on responding to incidents off duty and some have a radius where they allow the Officer to use their vehicle for personal use. Others such as the State Police can use them for personal use anywhere within the state.

Our cars would not last 15 minutes parked unattended let alone in front of your house for a whole night. LOL. I parked my squad downtown and it was vandalized.

[acreature]

Yeeeup..... drive it right into the driveway. Nope, not for errands and such, but its great to be on-duty as soon as I sit down in the seat.

[txinvestigator1]

Mesquite, TX, PD allows officers who reside within the city limits to take home a car. They encourage errand running.

[tpd_six]

My dept. now allows personal use of our cars within the county, and outside the county if it's work related. I don't like to use mine for personal use much, but some guys do.

[Deputy757]

Our take home policy allows for the use of the department vehicle anywhere within the county for official or personal reasons. If you need to do something in an adjacent county, usually all it takes is asking for permission.
We can also use them while working off duty details.
I use mine for just about everything I do in the county. Of course I have another car for jaunts out of county but I use it very rarely. I don't see why you would think we wouldn't want someone knowing that a LEO lived in our homes. In 14 years I've never had anything negative happen, unless you count the odd direction seeker stopping by! :D

[Lfpdlieu302]

we can use ours within a specific "zone" no farther north than blank, and no farther south than blank. i used to use mine for errands and such. but i hated it. now that i've got a second pov, i dont use mine unless its work related or i absolutely have to. i just got sick of people staring at me when i was off duty and parked at a restraunt or something.

[Star]

I don't use mine for personal errands but sometimes the Officer's under my direction will ask if they can run an errand or two and I don't mind, as long as I know about it. If I caught them without knowing, I'd have to write them up and I HATE DOING THAT!!!! IT RUINS MY DAY!! Our policy is you must live in this County to become employed or take home your vehicle. If you live outside the County, you park at the nearest sub station and take your own pov home.

[SeVere]

I don't use mine for personal errands but sometimes the Officer's under my direction will ask if they can run an errand or two and I don't mind, as long as I know about it. If I caught them without knowing, I'd have to write them up and I HATE DOING THAT!!!! IT RUINS MY DAY!! Our policy is you must live in this County to become employed or take home your vehicle. If you live outside the County, you park at the nearest sub station and take your own pov home.

Real nice. Can't be informal about it have to get official?

[Star]

Real nice. Can't be informal about it have to get official?

Unfortunately, when I am out and about it's usually with another white shirt. That would be the only reason I'd have to do that. It sucks. I don't think anyone in my department ever deserves getting written up unless perhaps, they went postal.

[SeVere]

Unfortunately, when I am out and about it's usually with another white shirt. That would be the only reason I'd have to do that. It sucks. I don't think anyone in my department ever deserves getting written up unless perhaps, they went postal.

Regardless, in my lowly opinion, its still bogus to make it official right off the bat. We can agree to disagree. I would even say that sometimes yes people deserve to be written up, but catching some copper running an errand with a squad car one time because he/she didn't "ask for permission" is just bogus. I will stop here because we will not agree on this issue and I don't intend to be a thread hijacker.

I believe that something like this deserves informal direction at first unless of course something serious happened because of the violation of the rules.

[Star]

Regardless, in my lowly opinion, its still bogus to make it official right off the bat. We can agree to disagree. I would even say that sometimes yes people deserve to be written up, but catching some copper running an errand with a squad car one time because he/she didn't "ask for permission" is just bogus. I will stop here because we will not agree on this issue and I don't intend to be a thread hijacker.

I believe that something like this deserves informal direction at first unless of course something serious happened because of the violation of the rules.

Ok, let me do some 'splaining here, hon. First, you have to give an Oral rep. It's still in writing but doesn't mean a damn thing. It's ok that you are questioning me. You deserve to know. Unfortunately, I have to follow policy by the book. Yeah, I hate it but it's my job. Next, you're talking to someone who's Officers call me and tell me they are going to Christmas shop for a half an hour and I stay the hell away from the mall. Or check on their kids and I stay the hell away from the daycare center. No problem. Just tell me so I am not anywhere around and I know no one else is. That's all. I haven't written up anyone in a hell of a long time so this shows you how smooth my department runs. All I am asking is just be honest. Don't screw up. Let me know something and I will protect you until my dieing day. Is that too much to ask?

[Piggy]

Our cars would not last 15 minutes parked unattended let alone in front of your house for a whole night. LOL. I parked my squad downtown and it was vandalized.

Here's a good story. I worked for a 5 man department (small town). We get a call one night of a couple juves out breaking into cars. We get them pulled over, and got consent on the vehicle. As I'm in searching I find a large buck knife. I thought "dang, it looks just like mine...and hey it even has my initials on it.". Little punks broke into my car. They didn't notice the big 5'X8' sign above their head that said "POLICE". I went from arresting Officer to victim.