COLORADO SPRINGS, CO- The Colorado Springs Police Department's poor recordkeeping of city vehicles violates city policy, reported Colorado Springs Gazette.
Nearly all the mileage logs for department vehicles that police get to drive home after work either are incomplete or missing, according to documents obtained by TheGazette under an open-records request.
More than 100 city employees have take-home cars, costing taxpayers about $131,000 for fuel and about $112,000 for operations and maintenance through Oct. 31, according to a report compiled by the city. See a database of the vehicles here.
The majority of city employees with take-home vehicles, 81, work in the Police Department. Police employees with take-home vehicles include three deputy chiefs, eight commanders and several undercover officers and members of the SWAT team and K-9 unit.
Employees with city-owned vehicles are required to maintain mileage logs that include miles for commuting and responding to emergency calls after work. A stack of mileage logs provided to The Gazette revealed only two commanders and two unidentified employees turned them in for the entire year, although the department claims the number is closer to 16. The rest of the mileage logs for the Police Department are either incomplete or missing.
The existing mileage logs for police show that take-home vehicles are being used primarily for commuting. Roundtrip daily commutes for police range from six miles to more than 88, according to city documents, reported The Gazette.
Top police officials acknowledged that oversight has been lax and pledged to bring accountability back to the perk, said TheGazette.
