Pain at the pump pushes police departments to make changes

By Ashley Roberts
WSLS10 Reporter
Published: July 9, 2008

We’re all pinching our money at the pump and so are police officers on patrols.

That’s why Radford Police Chief Don Goodman is making some changes to save more than just a little change. “We’ll never skimp on what we’re doing. We’ll always have somebody here that can handle everything.”

And at the same time saving every gallon of gas his department can; starting with shifts. “They’re allowed to work four ten hour days with a day off during the week and that’s one less day they have to drive to and from work. That means their take home car is parked one day a week and that’s less city gas that’s being burned.”

Which means officers are burning more rubber on bike patrols and whenever possible using their feet to get from point “A” to point “B.”

“Rather than sit in your police car, it gets us out and lets us have more exercise,” says Radford Police Officer Emily Tribble.

Chief Goodman says his efforts to cut back on fuel are also saving taxpayers money.

“We’re doing things that we can to be efficient in how we spend the taxpayer’s money,” says Goodman.

The Christiansburg Police Department is also increasing bike patrols, foot patrols and in some cases pairing up officers in one car.

Both departments made the changes a couple of weeks ago. Now, they’re hoping in the coming weeks that gas prices will go down so the amount they spend will as well.