The Family Car.

We have all had a time when the police have offered some sort of assistance to us. Maybe we were in an accident and the police helped with sorting out what happened and helped with the exchanging of insurance information. Or maybe our house was broken into and the police helped hunt down the perpetrator. Most of us appreciate having them around. They put their lives on the line to serve and protect us. But there is a flaw in the system. There is a street near my friends house where 2 cops live. How do I know they live there? Because every time I drive by there is a cop car parked in front of their house. Ok, ok. Lets give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe I drive by only when they are off duty. Well let me quote Wesley from The Princess Bride. "Possible Pig" That could be it, if I drove by at the same time everyday, but I don't. I have driven by at 6 in the morning. I have driven by in the mid afternoon. I have driven by at midnight. I have driven by at 1, 2, 3, and even 4 in the morning. Every time and at any time I drive by the cop cars are there. When do these people work? Do they work? Well if they don't there are 2 perfectly good cop cars, that our tax dollars paid
for, that could be being used by someone who is working. The only thing that may be worse than that is misusing the cars. The other day I saw a cop holding a woman's hand while walking out of Wal-Mart. A young boy around 8 and a young girl around 12 were walking behind them. The cop opened the passenger door of his squad car for the woman and then got in himself. The young boy and girl both got in the backseat themselves. Personal use of cop cars? Either that or it was a "mother and children" heist at Wal-Mart and the manager called the cops. But they decided to come peacefully. So the cop held the woman's hand while leading her to the car and the children walked quietly behind. Doubtful. Why is this allowed? A citizen style basic model of the car pictured starts at $21,575. But police don't have the basic model. They have the supercharged engine. They have the cage put in to hold criminals. They have the on board computer. They have the radar gun. Not to mention they have to have a custom paint job and a special light and siren package and the computer to run that. With all that it most likely costs closer to 35 or 40,000. Pretty expensive family car. Because a police car always has to be in good working order and not run down, I would assume that the average life of a police car is about 5 years. Well if police officers get to use these cars for personal use, how many years does that take of the 5 year life span of the car? Over the years that extra usage of cars adds up. If every cop on the force is doing it, it adds up even quicker. If they weren't allowed to do it we could save a lot of tax money. And if you aren't in a money saving mood. I am willing to bet that if all cops on one force didn't have personal use of police cars for one year, you could afford to add one cop to the force for that year. Then you would have less crime and more protection for the same price. But I can see why they would want to use it for themselves. There is a cage in the back. Who couldn't use that at one time or another on vacation. It's the perfect family car.