CONWAY, SC (WBTW) – Qualifying Conway Police officers will now be allowed to bring their patrol cars home after work, following a Conway City Council vote Monday evening.
The new perk is an effort to recruit and retain officers in the short-staffed department. The Conway Police Chief, Dale Long presented city council with more details about the vehicle take-home police on Monday.
All class one Conway police officers who have a two-year history with the department, along with a clean disciplinary record for six months will be eligible to bring home their vehicles. The policy will require officers to drive their patrol vehicles when going to Church, community events, school functions, and running brief errands after work.
“This is a great achievement for the officers that we have on the force now; to reward those officers who have shown good service to the city and have earned this privilege,” says Long.
According to Long, the new policy will help current officers financially, in addition to allowing the department to become competitive with other agencies that already have a take-home vehicle policy in place.
“There are twenty-six officers right now that will be directly affected tomorrow, and I’m very pleased that this is going to help those officers because even though you won’t be seeing anything additional in your pay, this is real money, because if you don’t have to pay for that commute, that equates to money that you save,” says Long.
The city will pay for the extra fuel costs, which Long estimates to be around $11,000, however, that number could change. Long says the department does not currently use all of the funds allotted for fuel costs because of the staff shortages.
Officers who are driving their patrol cars off duty will not be required to wear their uniforms, but the Chief says they could be expected to provide assistance if they happen to be at the scene of a crime or accident while driving a police vehicle.
Chief Long says the take-home policy is not only a benefit for the officers, but also the community, as he believes patrol car presence in neighborhoods and schools will help deter crime.
He also adds that it will save the officers valuable time at the beginning and end of their shifts, because it eliminates the need to transfer their equipment in and out of their vehicles.
“We had an officer do a survey on this and found out that the average turn over time between shared vehicles is about 34 minutes; we found that time of about 34 minutes per shift is time that they needed to be out on the streets,” says Long, “so this is a great asset to the City of Conway now, that officers, when they come on duty, they are ready to roll out and get straight to work.”
