View Full Version : Taking patrol cars home
NorCalN00b
11-30-1999, 12:00 AM
What's really the purpose of take-home cars? Aren't you suppose to turn in your patrol car at the station before heading home?
See below..................................
I work a Resident Post and basically work out of my house. I maybe get to my Area office once every other week or so.
I think that pretty well answers the question right there. The purpose of take-home cars are for officers who are on-call and may have to respond out to an incident on short notice.
Most Chippes who take home their patrol cars are the ones who work in small offices right? Do they let you take home your patrol car if you work in a city office?
ryanr
06-13-2006, 12:44 PM
I am curious. Do CHP officers get to take their patrol cars home every night after their shift? That has been a listed "perk" with a few city departments and was wondering about the state level.
Thank you in advance!
dbcomm
06-13-2006, 01:30 PM
I can't say for sure as I'm not an officer, but my neighbor across the street has his cruiser there at night quite often. Maybe it varies per office.
23112
06-13-2006, 05:04 PM
I definitely don't take my patrol car home after shift; there are two other shifts that need to use it after me! Resident Posts get to take their patrol car home because they don't show up at the office every day. Are you sure your neighbor takes his car home, or is he just there for a lunch break/report-writing break?
I am curious. Do CHP officers get to take their patrol cars home every night after their shift? That has been a listed "perk" with a few city departments and was wondering about the state level.
No take-home cars unless you work in a Resident Post or have some kind of "on-call" status.
THEDARKKNIGHT
06-13-2006, 05:46 PM
why would you want to take it home. then everyone knows your a LEO. including people that aren't to friendly to LEOs.
23112
06-13-2006, 05:55 PM
why would you want to take it home. then everyone knows your a LEO. including people that aren't to friendly to LEOs.
Definitely. I even keep my dry-cleaning under wraps going from the parking lot to my apartment--I don't need anyone harassing me or my wife.
On another note, don't K-9 handlers take their cars home, too?
why would you want to take it home. then everyone knows your a LEO. including people that aren't to friendly to LEOs.
Exactly why I wouldn't do it even if the Department DID offer it. I've never been big on advertising what I do for the whole world to see.....as you said, there are plenty of people out there who aren't exactly LEO-friendly. Firefighters get all the love - that's why they run stickers, 'vanity' license plates, license plate frames, and all kinds of stuff on their personal vehicles. :smile:
23109
06-13-2006, 06:45 PM
why would you want to take it home. then everyone knows your a LEO. including people that aren't to friendly to LEOs.
If you're on call (which occurs at my office) you'll want to take your patrol car home if you live quite a ways away from the office. If a fatal comes out and you're called out to it, you really don't want to drive by the scene to pick up your car and uniform.
It sucks because people do figure out you're a LEO, but not much can be done about it.
...It sucks because people do figure out you're a LEO, but not much can be done about it.
Yeah....nothin' like having your neighbors knocking on your door at 0200 to settle their DV for them...or coming over all the time asking you to sign off tickets, chase the "prowlers" out of their yard, quiet down the neighborhood barking dogs, handle parking problems, etc. No thanks.
dbcomm
06-13-2006, 08:22 PM
I definitely don't take my patrol car home after shift; there are two other shifts that need to use it after me! Resident Posts get to take their patrol car home because they don't show up at the office every day. Are you sure your neighbor takes his car home, or is he just there for a lunch break/report-writing break?
I live in a small town in the valley - very rural, but to answer your question, I don't know for sure. I know he's taken off out of his driveway before like the devil was chasing him :smile:
redhead
06-13-2006, 08:37 PM
What about Motors?
Bosco
06-13-2006, 09:33 PM
...It sucks because people do figure out you're a LEO, but not much can be done about it.
Yeah....nothin' like having your neighbors knocking on your door at 0200 to settle their DV for them...or coming over all the time asking you to sign off tickets, chase the "prowlers" out of their yard, quiet down the neighborhood barking dogs, handle parking problems, etc. No thanks.
All my neighbors knew what I did for a living before I met them..."Oh, you are the highway patrolman". The only thing that was asked of me was to sign off a ticket once. No biggie. I would personally like to have a take home car so I wouldn't have to share with slobs.
lomotor
06-14-2006, 06:10 AM
I'm a motor here and have taken my bike home for two years now. I have not had one neighbor ask me to do anything for them. We say "Hi" in passing and such but not once has anyone come knocking on my door to settle a DV for them. Mind you I live in a nice quite community. I'm very comfortable with taking the bike home, it's the only place to get it washed anyway and I roll it out into my driveway and give it a scrub. People walk by and say hi but that's just about it.
ryanr
06-14-2006, 05:45 PM
Thanks for the responses! You all make very valid points about taking (or not taking) your car home.
Thanks again!
bg17067
06-19-2006, 07:27 PM
I work a Resident Post and basically work out of my house. I maybe get to my Area office once every other week or so. The problem with being in this small rural community is that everyone knows who you are and where you live. I don't have a garage for the 4WD but I can park it on the backside of my house to keep it out of sight. Why advertise for those who don't know right?
NorCalN00b
06-20-2006, 10:58 AM
I work a Resident Post and basically work out of my house. I maybe get to my Area office once every other week or so. The problem with being in this small rural community is that everyone knows who you are and where you live. I don't have a garage for the 4WD but I can park it on the backside of my house to keep it out of sight. Why advertise for those who don't know right?
What's really the purpose of take-home cars? Aren't you suppose to turn in your patrol car at the station before heading home?
SB 405
06-20-2006, 11:38 AM
Norcal...I think the office can be m i l e s from where the Officer lives and I'm pretty sure these Officers are on call 24/7 and respond from home to incidents many times.
What's really the purpose of take-home cars? Aren't you suppose to turn in your patrol car at the station before heading home?
See below..................................
I work a Resident Post and basically work out of my house. I maybe get to my Area office once every other week or so.
I think that pretty well answers the question right there. The purpose of take-home cars are for officers who are on-call and may have to respond out to an incident on short notice.
Lucky Seven
06-20-2006, 10:34 PM
Most Chippes who take home their patrol cars are the ones who work in small offices right? Do they let you take home your patrol car if you work in a city office?
Just because an officer works in a small office does not mean that they have take home vehicles.
Take home vehicles are only assigned when necessary. Those who are on-call, (ie. resident post officers, certain investigators, bomb squad), are normally the only ones allowed to have take home vehicles.
I should point out that having on-call status means the officers are available for call out at all hours when they are off duty, some even on their days off. Furthermore, officers are not compensated for being on-call. The officer loses all of his off duty free time essentially as he/she is basically under house arrest and must be available to answer the phone and respond within a certain amount of time.
Mary-1
06-21-2006, 05:39 AM
I should point out that having on-call status means the officers are available for call out at all hours when they are off duty, some even on their days off. Furthermore, officers are not compensated for being on-call.
Might want to check your mou. Off the top of my head it's 1 hour for every three on call.
Unless, you're a residence officer then all bets are off.
x MAIT
06-21-2006, 06:00 AM
MAIT has take home vehicles because we are on-call all day, every day (like multiple fatals on three consecutive Super Bowl Sundays; officer involved injury collisions three Thanksgivings in a row; officer involved shooting on Christmas Day). You know, all of the fun things you like to do on special days. If you wanted to go somewhere for the weekend, you had to make sure that the rest of the team (2 other officers and the Sergeant) were available. Vacations had to be scheduled around the rest of the team. If you wanted to go to a party, you best not consume any adult beverages unless you let the team know in advance that you were not available that night. We did not receive the on-call pay even though a look at the MOU indicated that we might qualify. A years worth of on-call pay would have been a nice chunk of change!
I drove a white Suburban that was filled with so much equipment that only the front seats were empty. It was nice having a state credit card for fuel. That was also one of the nice things about being a motor. The hard part was getting my motor and two cars into the garage.
SB 405
06-21-2006, 08:46 AM
MAIT you just answered a question I was getting ready to ask....what happens if you have the guys over for poker night and everyones tippin a few...and the phone rings?
Mary-1
06-21-2006, 09:08 AM
I was mainly referring to regular road guys. Special positions the lines do start getting blurred. Plus if you want to keep that job.......
NorCalN00b
06-21-2006, 10:03 AM
What, you don't get paid for on-call duty?? That sucks!! Why don't they pay you for on-call duty while you're off-duty?? My old man is an engineer and whenever he gets called back to work on his days off, he gets compensated for it.
MAIT you just answered a question I was getting ready to ask....what happens if you have the guys over for poker night and everyones tippin a few...and the phone rings?
If you're on-call, you don't tip anything with alcohol in it - not even a sip.
Lucky Seven
06-22-2006, 08:13 AM
I should point out that having on-call status means the officers are available for call out at all hours when they are off duty, some even on their days off. Furthermore, officers are not compensated for being on-call.
Might want to check your mou. Off the top of my head it's 1 hour for every three on call.
Unless, you're a residence officer then all bets are off.
You are referring to "Stand-by" time vs "On-Call" time. You are correct that if you are put on stand-by (i.e. when the LA riots happened I was on stand-by for all of four hours before getting a call to deploy) you will get the one hour for three (or is it one for four ?).
There is no pay for on-call status.
kenny
06-22-2006, 08:31 PM
OK what is a Resident Post? Is that were you work a city also like as in tahoe sheriff and chp are the police for disturbinces and all that stuff?
redhead
06-22-2006, 08:42 PM
OK what is a Resident Post? Is that were you work a city also like as in tahoe sheriff and chp are the police for disturbinces and all that stuff?
Welcome to the board!
Great article on RP's (http://www.chp.ca.gov/programs/perspectives/per02-33.html)
exprezchef
06-23-2006, 08:01 PM
As an RP Officer, I don't mind the on-calls. A quick call out at 2:00 AM for a call-box check or the always faithfull 11-25 cow is not that bad. Although my wife is not to happy when dispatch calls my house at that hour :smile:. Four hours of OT pay for 30 min of work. I'll take that any day. Those always make up for the call-out for the duice crash or fatal TC in the middle of the night. :sad:
bg17067
06-25-2006, 11:39 PM
I would have to agree that the easy call-outs make up for the difficult ones. I usually have the luck of getting a call-box check that's just miles from the house only to get called to a crash that's a 2 hr. drive response time away within the same four hour period. That makes for a long night.
16528
06-28-2006, 06:38 PM
I would have to agree that the easy call-outs make up for the difficult ones. I usually have the luck of getting a call-box check that's just miles from the house only to get called to a crash that's a 2 hr. drive response time away within the same four hour period. That makes for a long night.
You could have stayed in Castro Valley........
Ya' the resident post sounds better :biggrin:
Hey Bry
Elizabeth Mills
07-02-2006, 01:35 AM
I have to agree rp sounds good. I would not mind working at the one in my area once I am an officer. I know the guys from my area have it pretty easy in the months that there is no snow on the ground they barely get any calls. On the other hand once it starts to snow they have crashes left and right.
bg17067
07-03-2006, 09:00 PM
I would have to agree that the easy call-outs make up for the difficult ones. I usually have the luck of getting a call-box check that's just miles from the house only to get called to a crash that's a 2 hr. drive response time away within the same four hour period. That makes for a long night.
You could have stayed in Castro Valley........
Ya' the resident post sounds better :biggrin:
Hey Bry
It's funny...times like that I think that if I was at the good ol' 375 again I wouldn't be going on wild goose chases at midnight. HOWEVER, when I'm sitting at the Sea Ranch Golf Course having lunch over looking the ocean I wouldn't trade it for the world! :smile:
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