Ok, now that you all have argued this out a bit, I will answer the original posters question with a factual and direct answer.
The issued patrol vehicle program is part of the officers benefits package. It allows the officer to use the vehicle on/off duty within the county. Under certain regulations that differ from county to county, they may be allowed to travel outside of the county within certain limitations.
The take home car program has always been a win-win for both the individual officer and for the agency. The officers are using the vehicles in the communities and highways and that creates an omni-presence of police. Something the public demands, high visiblity of law enforcement. Citizens want to see the police, they may not want to have contact with us, but they definately want to see us!
Lets look at it this way, as a tax payer, would you rather put that marked police vehicle in some fleet parking lot, or parked in the middle of one of your local shopping centers? Where will it give the community the best service?
The officers are required to take police action if they are off duty in their patrol vehicle and because he/she is in that vehicle, they are now equipt to properly deal with most situations. They have a police radio, are able to provide emergency response, and have emergency equipment readily available. I can tell you that in most of the cases where an officer in my agency (Charles County) has called for help, or a major incident has occured, in the majority of the officers to arrive first on the scene are off duty.
Lets go back for a minute to the tax payer perspective. If those patrol cars are run round the clock and are just turned over to the next officer coming on duty, their longevity decreases significantly. Look at the patrol vehicles in major city police agencies. They all look like taxi cabs! They are not taken care of, very rarely washed and reflect poorly on the image of the agency(and the community). When the officer has a take home car he/she takes care of the vehicle and has a responsibility to ensure it is maintained. Supervisors conduct monthy vehicle inspections on patrol cars to ensure they are kept up to standards and loss of the use of the car can result if they fail to properly maintain it. Charles County routinely gets more than 150,000 miles out of a patrol vehicle prior removing it from the fleet. That would not be possible with a patrol vehicle run on every shift.
In the event that the agency needs to mobilize Law Enforcement (which seems to be happening more and more often) The officer leaves their driveway ready to work and perform on the spot. It is unappropiate for officers to be taking police action out of their personal vehicles except in extreme emergencies. There is an insurance issue, a liabilty issue and a legal issue with that practice, not to mention that it generates a tidal waive of complaints.
As for the off duty employment use, each agency has its own regulations to manage this. If the officer is working in a business or shopping center, again this places an effective, highly visible, prevention tool into the community. Police commanders see this as a positive. Calls for police service and on duty personel will very rarely need to respond to that location, and manpower can be used at needed locations elsewhere. The private business pays the bill, all the agency had to do, is provide the officer with the car, so they could effectively provide the service. Shopping centers and fast food restaurants are good examples of this. If the business had not paid the officer to be there, how many crimes would have occured, and how many on-duty officers would have had to respond on the tax payers dime, to deal with the problems. The officers have usually been hired because of a history of problems occuring in the past, and the average citizen should be able to drive in and patronize the business with out fear of being a crime victim.
Officer are permitted to use their patrol vehicles off duty for personal business, within the parameters of professional conduct. For example it would not be professional conduct to be using a drive-in window at a liquor store to make purchases of alcoholic beverages. When Hooters opened in Waldorf, we were told that parking of police vehicles in that parking lot was not allowed unless officers were responding to calls for service. It creates bad public perception, just plain decent common sense.
Some agencies will allow the officer to transport their family members or other persons off duty. Charles County does allow this practice, but it is very rare that I put my family in the patrol car. I don't want them in the vehicle if I have to deal with a problem that occures unexpectedly.
I hope this answered your question. I would be happy to answer other questions. But, as I have said before, you will have to find someone else to engage in a debate with. I will not respond to questions posted for that purpose.
The issued patrol vehicle program is part of the officers benefits package. It allows the officer to use the vehicle on/off duty within the county. Under certain regulations that differ from county to county, they may be allowed to travel outside of the county within certain limitations.
The take home car program has always been a win-win for both the individual officer and for the agency. The officers are using the vehicles in the communities and highways and that creates an omni-presence of police. Something the public demands, high visiblity of law enforcement. Citizens want to see the police, they may not want to have contact with us, but they definately want to see us!
Lets look at it this way, as a tax payer, would you rather put that marked police vehicle in some fleet parking lot, or parked in the middle of one of your local shopping centers? Where will it give the community the best service?
The officers are required to take police action if they are off duty in their patrol vehicle and because he/she is in that vehicle, they are now equipt to properly deal with most situations. They have a police radio, are able to provide emergency response, and have emergency equipment readily available. I can tell you that in most of the cases where an officer in my agency (Charles County) has called for help, or a major incident has occured, in the majority of the officers to arrive first on the scene are off duty.
Lets go back for a minute to the tax payer perspective. If those patrol cars are run round the clock and are just turned over to the next officer coming on duty, their longevity decreases significantly. Look at the patrol vehicles in major city police agencies. They all look like taxi cabs! They are not taken care of, very rarely washed and reflect poorly on the image of the agency(and the community). When the officer has a take home car he/she takes care of the vehicle and has a responsibility to ensure it is maintained. Supervisors conduct monthy vehicle inspections on patrol cars to ensure they are kept up to standards and loss of the use of the car can result if they fail to properly maintain it. Charles County routinely gets more than 150,000 miles out of a patrol vehicle prior removing it from the fleet. That would not be possible with a patrol vehicle run on every shift.
In the event that the agency needs to mobilize Law Enforcement (which seems to be happening more and more often) The officer leaves their driveway ready to work and perform on the spot. It is unappropiate for officers to be taking police action out of their personal vehicles except in extreme emergencies. There is an insurance issue, a liabilty issue and a legal issue with that practice, not to mention that it generates a tidal waive of complaints.
As for the off duty employment use, each agency has its own regulations to manage this. If the officer is working in a business or shopping center, again this places an effective, highly visible, prevention tool into the community. Police commanders see this as a positive. Calls for police service and on duty personel will very rarely need to respond to that location, and manpower can be used at needed locations elsewhere. The private business pays the bill, all the agency had to do, is provide the officer with the car, so they could effectively provide the service. Shopping centers and fast food restaurants are good examples of this. If the business had not paid the officer to be there, how many crimes would have occured, and how many on-duty officers would have had to respond on the tax payers dime, to deal with the problems. The officers have usually been hired because of a history of problems occuring in the past, and the average citizen should be able to drive in and patronize the business with out fear of being a crime victim.
Officer are permitted to use their patrol vehicles off duty for personal business, within the parameters of professional conduct. For example it would not be professional conduct to be using a drive-in window at a liquor store to make purchases of alcoholic beverages. When Hooters opened in Waldorf, we were told that parking of police vehicles in that parking lot was not allowed unless officers were responding to calls for service. It creates bad public perception, just plain decent common sense.
Some agencies will allow the officer to transport their family members or other persons off duty. Charles County does allow this practice, but it is very rare that I put my family in the patrol car. I don't want them in the vehicle if I have to deal with a problem that occures unexpectedly.
I hope this answered your question. I would be happy to answer other questions. But, as I have said before, you will have to find someone else to engage in a debate with. I will not respond to questions posted for that purpose.
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That would be like sooooooooo cool!!! 
He had me at free donuts. 
