CITY of ALBUQUERQUE
NINETEENTH COUNCIL
COUNCIL BILL NO. R-10-52 ENACTMENT NO. _____________________
SPONSORED BY: Brad Winter
RESOLUTION
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Directing The Administration To Develop a Comprehensive Plan To Reduce The Escalating Operational and Capital Costs of Maintaining The Current Fleet of Police Vehicles and To Provide a Report To The Council (Winter)
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Directing the ADMINISTRATION to DEVELOP a comprehensive PLAN to reducE THE ESCALATING operational AND CAPITAL costs OF MAINTAINING THE CURRENT fleet of police vehicles AND TO PROVIDE A REPORT TO THE COUNCIL.
WHEREAS, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) currently has 1,056 vehicles in its fleet; and
WHEREAS, 973 of those vehicles are "take home" cars assigned to officers; and
WHEREAS, the collective bargaining agreement between the City and the Albuquerque Police Officer's Association provides for a Take Home Car Plan within the sole prerogative of the Chief of Police; and
WHEREAS, 195 officers live outside of the City and Bernalillo County; and
WHEREAS, on average patrol cars are driven between 16,000 and 18,000 miles per year; and
WHEREAS, while the Take Home Car Plan allows for very limited personal use of take home cars there is public perception that the vehicles are being used for many personal errands; and
WHEREAS, APD desires to replace its vehicles once they have reached 75,000 to 85,000 miles; and
WHEREAS, such a replacement schedule requires replacing over 200 vehicles per year at an annual cost of between $8,000,000 and $10,000,000; and
WHEREAS, over an 18 month period, officers were involved in 349 vehicle collisions; and
WHEREAS, officers with one and two years of service accounted for 14% of preventable collisions during that same 18 month period; and
WHEREAS, APD officers "total" more than 60 vehicles per year in auto collisions and the department is only partially reimbursed by insurance for those accidents; and
WHEREAS, the Council recognizes the benefits of a well managed take home car plan (i.e., police presence in Albuquerque neighborhoods); however, the costs of the program as it is currently administered appear to outweigh the benefits.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL, THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE:
Section 1. The Administration is directed to develop a comprehensive cost reduction plan for maintaining and replacing the APD vehicle fleet. The plan shall include an evaluation of the fleet including miles driven per year, maintenance costs, fuel costs, crash costs, replacement costs, etc. The plan shall address the Take Home Car Plan currently in place. The plan shall evaluate why vehicles should continue to be driven outside of Bernalillo County and how the "personal use" policy should be revised so that costs are reduced and the policy is adhered to. The plan shall also include a review of all driver training policies and procedures in an effort to reduce the number of officer involved vehicle crashes. The plan shall also examine the potential to expand the use of pool vehicles where possible.
Section 2. The plan shall be submitted to the Council as an Executive Communication Report within 2-weeks of the adoption of this Resolution.
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