Chief Defies Mayor Again?
The Town Council approved the Chief of Police to purchase a new police cruiser for the Police Department. However, there was only one stipulation. The Mayor ordered the Chief to make that cruiser a "Marked" cruiser. In case you aren't sure what this means. This is a police car with the decals on it labeling it as such and the light bars on top of the vehicle. She also informed all of the council months ago that the cruiser that would be arriving would be a marked cruiser.
Well, you guessed it. The town just recently received a brand new "UNMARKED" gray Dodge Charger Police Vehicle. Once again this Chief has gone against the council's wishes and the Mayor's orders. This Town now has 3 unmarked police cruisers and 3 supervisory personnel for 5 TOTAL Police Department Employees. Unbelievable!
On another note, The Chief who takes his car home (one could argue that he is on call) is allowing the Sgt to take this new cruiser home also. The Sgt and Chief both live in Front Royal, Virginia. Lets think about our tax dollars at work! You would think the town would be saving money during this gas crisis. I am going to break this down for you. The Chief & Sgt both get off at Exit 6 to go home. So from Exit 40 to Exit 6 is 34 miles. They live more than 1 mile off the exit but just to be fair we will say that it is 35 miles each way for them to travel to/from work. This equates to 70 miles a day. The Sgt works 5 days a week or 350 miles a week. This equates to 18, 200 miles a year put on a new car in additon to the miles that he drives while patrolling the town. ( I can't break down the Chief's mileage because he still is not reporting to work on a regular basis. The town council STILL is ignoring this issue. 60K a year and the guy doesn't come to work on a regular basis. Amazing.)
To put this in perspective, the new cruiser the town bought in 2004 only had 24,000 miles in Jan 2006 when it was only being used for patrol in the Town of Haymarket and not being driven back and forth to someone's home.
Citizens of Haymarket you wanted more police visability, but you now have 3 unmarked cruisers. How much will this reduce speeding?
Why is the council allowing the Police Department to waste Gas and our tax $$?
Why is the council allowing the Sgt who has never been called out on an emergency in the past year to take a cruiser home? This Sgt has a police Motorcycle (that he owns) but he doesn't want to drive that back and forth because it will put the miles on his bike.
I would even question HOW MANY TIMES THE CHIEF HAS COME OUT for an emergency in the past year? Or even for his dog that has never made an arrest in the past 2 years and we have been paying for!
These are questions that need to be answered!!
