Montgomery County police officers who live outside the county would all receive their own $50,000 patrol cars that would sit unused in county-line lots when officers are off duty, under the county executive’s proposed budget.
Some council members say the $1.75 million required to fully fund the program should go toward staffing, since County Executive Ike Leggett also proposed eliminating a police recruit class and cutting all community outreach officer positions to close a $297 million budget gap.
Leggett’s spokesman Patrick Lacefield said Leggett is merely upholding an agreement signed with police union leaders in February 2002 during former County Executive Doug Duncan’s administration, in which the county agreed by July 1, 2009 to provide individual vehicles for all officers who live outside Montgomery County.
The county has been slowly adding cars since the agreement was signed, but leaders estimate they need to purchase 35 new vehicles to have patrol cars for all eligible officers by the July 2009 deadline. Previously, those who lived outside the county shared patrol cars parked at a central location.
“The county will be buying $50,000 vehicles that can be parked at a location like the detention center in Clarksburg for sometimes several days in a row, doing nothing to contribute to safety in the community,” Council Vice President Phil Andrews, who chairs the Public Safety Committee, said. “Meanwhile we’re cutting a recruit class and 12 community officer positions.”
Montgomery Fraternal Order of Police secretary Jane Milne said it was a “false dichotomy” to choose between cars and personnel.
“These cars will be vacant less hours per week than expensive offices used by other county employees,” Milne said in an e-mail. “Additional personnel will require training and vehicles.”
Officers who live in the county are already given their own patrol cars to use as a personal vehicle when not on duty, as part of a program designed to increase police visibility and allow the department to have officers respond to calls when they are off duty.
Lacefield said the council can decide not to fund the agreement this year, but Leggett was obliged to honor the contract signed by the county.
Police spokesman Lt. Paul Starks said Police Chief J. Thomas Manger supports the program citing a desire for more cruisers on county roads.
