Ohhh booo hoooo i cant take my car home with me i need to pay gas like everyone else. I think no deputies should be allowed to take thier cars home. My father is a correctional officer in Tehachapi and he has to commute from bakersfield and he deals with it. I say good move !!!!

The deputy quoted in the story specifically volunteered to pay for his gas, so your "boo hoo" sarcasm is off-point. Yes, everybody else pays for their gas; not everybody else provides a service while doing so.

Your C.O. example isn't fitting either. CO's do not have radios and do not respond to calls for service while on the road. They do not drive marked patrol cars, which give the public more visible patrol time without paying the deputy. Deputies do in fact respond to urgent calls as well as situations they encounter while on their way to and from work. I know; one of them wrote my wife a ticket (she deserved it).

Before you launch a "my dad helped a stranded motorist" story, that's not the same thing, either.

I still see it as whining ... sorry i see "the service they provide" as using city cars to go to Longs, Vons, Albertson ... if you havent seen that in Bakersfield then you must be blind I have lived here for 29 years and see it.  Deputies have nice pay plus OT a little gas expense will not hurt. But you have some valid points well said :)

I think it is a good move.  Why should the taxpayers have to pay for this luxary?  Drive to work like everyone else and spend your own gas to get there. 

If all departments did this, the could drastically cut down on the number of cars they have, because everyone wouldn't need thier own and they could share more. 

Just another perfect example of how government can be so bloated by useless spending.  Cheers to the Sheriff for making the tough call to save a quarter of a million dollars a year! 

Thanks, foodjunkie. But I still respectfully disagree. If officers or deputies use those cars for personal errands, they should be disciplined for it. But did you report it when you saw it? "we get the government we deserve..."

Btown, I drive 58 between Bakersfield and Tehachapi a lot. I see CHP every once in a while, but more often deputies- probably many of them on their way to and from work. I like them out there and I like knowing that if my wife or kids needed them along that road, they'd be there. I'm willing to have my taxes pay for the car that deputy uses, because he's providing the service we need: patrolling a county area.

However- maybe the sheriff's got it backwards. This move only affects a few deputies who drive the longest distance to work. That means we're paying for a limited amount of extra patrol from the deputies who drive the shortest distance in the most populated areas, where the city already patrols.

Why not only allow take-home cars for those who work the substations (Tehachapi, Lamont, etc) and take the cars away from the in-town deputies? That way we get a lot more patrol (an extra hour and a half a day, in some cases) in rural areas where it's needed for free and we save a lot more money.

JDubois, welcome to the small percentage of TBC bloggers who actually have some common sense! :)

No cop should be allowed to drive their patrol cars home. What a waste of taxpayer money. This crap about helping people...what they can't help people in their private vehicle on their way home? They still have their uniform and badge don't they. Thats the problem with City, County, State, and federal employees they think they're owed something.  The taxpaying suckers will pay it. Join the real world  and stop whining;  pay for your gas like everybody else does.

I used to live on the same street as a BPD officer. Loved the fact that his patrol car was parked in front of his house. Not only did it slow drivers down, I'm sure it probably deterred more serious criminals. A previous poster said it was a "luxury" for cops to drive their cars home ... I think it's a luxury to live near a cop with a marked car on the street! Wish I had one now.

This is a good example of the kind of leadership I expected from Donny Youngblood.  This is, indeed, a cost-cutting measure that will help save the county money while not greatly impacting the safety of its citizens.  It's true that officers use the patrol cars for trips to the 7-11 and Starbucks, but that's usually while they're on duty.  At least once or twice a week my husband ends up missing his dinner break because he's wrapped up with a call.  He either doesn't eat at all during his 10 hour shift, or he grabs something unsavory from 7-11 that he knows I don't like him to eat (not many salads at 7-11.)  Also, there have been many times that his 10 hour shift turned into a 12 hour shift because he came upon a drunk driver on his way home from work.  I've told him repeatedly to just pretend he doesn't see the drunks and come home, but he WILL be a goody-two-shoes. 

I agree that this was a good decision by Donny Youngblood.  Too bad some people post comments as if the law enforcement in this county are out to get them.  Unless they really are, in which case it would just be easier to turn themselves in.  ; )

Soltini, you are criticizing people who think they are "owed something," but you seem to be saying that off-duty cops in their private vehicles should still be using their uniforms and badges to help people. Seems like you're the one who expects something for nothing- even though I think most of them would do it anyway.

By the way, do you really think the cops are just as prepared to handle emergencies in their private cars as they are in patrol cars? Lights, sirens, radios, rifles, computer, first aid kits, flares, and God knows what else they have in those cars...last time I looked inside one they had so much stuff packed in there it looked like the cockpit of a fighter jet. Not to mention that portable "time out" chamber they have for a backseat.

Do you have any valid points on this topic or just more resentment?

Soltini -- if you really expect  "more"  from your public servants with badges, do you really think your explosive rhetoric is the way to get it?

You seem very aggressive in your own way, don't you suppose the people who go into LE might also be somewhat aggressive and react in a certain way to your comments. Myself, if they didn't  "get their back up and take that snaffle bit and try to spit it out"  after reading your comments, I wouldn't want them as cops.

I think you should rethink your posting tenor. Unless, of course, your sole point is just to antagonize them (as well as the rest of us) ----

Chico, I'm sure if we had soltini's real name we would see that he/she is no virgin to having contact with LE. It seems the ones who bitch the most have served some time in jail or prison, sometimes multiple times. 

JDubois

I think the thing about the report that bothered me the most is the part that "Deputies were encouraged to fill up at the county yard where it was cheaper to do so."  I think a better statement should be, "Deputies are required to fill up at the county yard unless it is an emergency."  I think there is more of a lack of authority problem there that could save us a lot of money.

In reality, I would really like to see the actual numbers on calls these officers respond to on the way to and from work.  That might be enough to sway my opnion a bit.  And to be honest, I live next to a BPD, and love that his car is there.  But it wouldn't hurt my feelings one bit if he had to commute like everyone else. 

IN all truth, I don't think any government employees should be provided with cars to commute with.  It is just another perk that is passed on to the taxpayers when it shouldn't be.  I could concede the officers, if others didn't have the liberty, simply because I don't see why they need it aside from just being a dumb perk.  If you want a company car, don't work in government.