New year brings new FWPD policy

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - The new year will bring a new policy for Fort Wayne police officers.

After months of discussion, the police chief says officers will have to pay to drive their police cruisers when they're off duty.

This decision is not sitting well with union leaders.

Chief Rusty York put the measure on the table back in early June.  At the time, gas was around 4-bucks a gallon, and the department was looking for ways to cut costs.

The union that represents police officers looks at the idea as an unfair reduction in wages.

Leaders are not happy about how the chief went about enacting the new policy, either.

$25 a paycheck: Starting the first week of January, that's how much Fort Wayne police officers will pay to drive their patrol cars when they're off duty.

"Do I like it? No. Do the officers like it? No. It's just a reality. A reality for most police departments who have take home fleets," said Chief of Fort Wayne Police, Rusty York.

York estimates the move could save the city big bucks: as much as $250,000 a year, in a time when budgets are tight. Opponents of the plan say there is no way to put a dollar figure on the crime that is prevented by having off-duty officers on the roads in their patrol cars.

Detective Shane Hopkins says, "Fort Wayne Police Chief Rusty York estimates the move could save the city big bucks: as much as 250-thousand dollars a year, in a time when budgets are tight. Opponents of the plan say there is no way to put a dollar figure on the crime that is prevented by having off-duty officers on the roads in their patrol cars."

Hopkins is the president of the the Policeman's Benevolent Association, the union that represents Fort Wayne officers. Apart from disagreeing over the take home car policy. Hopkins doesn't think Chief York went about enacting the policy correctly, by giving each police officer a sign up sheet.

"At any point in time when you go to an individual and pull them aside and discuss increasing or decreasing their pay in their compensation and that individual belongs to a union, well, then it's in violation of collective bargaining," said Hopkins.

"We do not think this is a violation of the collective bargaining agreement," said Chief York.

York says it more of a moot point, because he didn't have to offer the officers a choice at all. The take home cars are not written into the officers contracts.

The matter is now in arbitration. York says the result will not impact the policy at all.

The policy goes into effect the first week of January. Officers will see the deductions out of their paycheck the second week of the year.

Annually, the amount the officers will pay for their cars for personal use is about the same you would spend on a year of home owner's insurance, or two months of groceries.