The Troy Police Chief, Captains and some Lieutenant(s) receive take home vehicles at the city expense. One member questioned the need for such an expenditure. The cars routinely cost in the area of $20-35000, plus maintenance, insurance, and gas. With the average lifespan of an assigned vehicle at 3 years, that equates to roughly a $10-15000 annual expenditure per administrator or $60-100,000 annually for take home cars. The member questioned why if private industry routinely utilizes a car allowance program with an average monthly rate of $500 per month, how come that program was not chosen by police administrators over the vehicle purchase program? The member further questioned why two captains need a city owned vehicle at all since two of them live within the city limits, the chief resides in Sterling Heights and an emergency response back to the station would be only delayed minutes in a privately owned vehicle. The member then suggested why not equip their privately owned vehicles with a siren and a magnetic roof light if necessary? When one thinks about that suggestion, it begs real consideration since many volunteer fighters:  a) live in the city, b) routinely respond to emergencies at all hours of the day and night and c) utilize their own private vehicles. The volunteer firefighters function appropriate and adequately with that system in place, why not our police administrators.  If time is such a consideration do you not have supervisors who are supposedly trained and capable of managing the emergency in your absence similar to a doctor heading to the hospital to see a sick patient, the resident or ER doctor cares for the patient, right? The final point this member wanted to address is why does a Lieutenant that is in the public relations area driving a take home car at all?

In close, this program should be eliminated immediately by Chief Mayer and lead by example and give his car up first.  So Chief are you going to lead by example?