Council Approves Police Take Home Car Policy
The Grand Prairie City Council Tuesday night approved Police Chief Steve Dye’s proposal to allow patrol officers the privilege to take home patrol car.
Restricted to officers living in Grand Prairie, the proposal will put an estimated thirty to thirty-five patrol cars in neighborhoods throughout the city for enhanced visibility at a cost of $1.9 million dollars to this year's budget.
Chief Dye said he could hire three additional officers and citizens would not really notice it, but if he put 30 additional cars on the streets, that would be noticed.
Twenty-one cars from the patrol car fleet would be used and the department would need to purchase an additional 22 cars for the program.
Some of the benefits of the take home car program include:
Increased car life from four to seven yearsChief Dye said officer participating in the program would have to agree to:
Enhanced visibility
Decreased response time for officers in specialized units (i.e. SWAT, Accident investigators)
Improved response in the event of a disaster
Lower maintenance cost.
Sign a contract with cityThe chief expects to see some additional benefits such as: Potential recruiting tool and increased number of officers choosing to live in Grand Prairie.
Officers are encouraged to use cars for personal use, the use is restricted to the city of Grand Prairie
Off duty officer must monitor the car’s radio
Officers do not have to wear uniforms while operating the vehicle but will be dressed appropriately
Weapons and critical gear removed from car while parked at a home.
