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HomeMy WebLinkAbout(01) USE OF PATROL CARS FOR OFF-DUTY JOBS MEMORANDUM POLICE DEPARTMENT PORT ARTHUR TO: Steve Fitzgibbons, City Manager DATE: September 9, 2011 FROM: Mark Blanton, Chief of Police [x] For your information [ ] Please take appropriate action [ ] For comment & recommendation [ ] Please prepare draft for my reply [ ] File for future reference [ ] Please reply on my behalf [ ] Please discuss with me [ ] Please return RE: Use of Patrol Cars at Off -Duty Jobs This memorandum is sent to explain the use of Patrol Cars at Off-Duty Jobs. This practice is a part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the City of Port Arthur and the Port Arthur Police Association. The use of Police Vehicles at Off -duty jobs has been in place for numerous years. It has been beneficial to the City in numerous ways. Prior to the practice, if an off -duty officer working an off -duty job made an arrest, an on duty unit had to be sent to pick up the prisoner and transport that person to the County jail. The on -duty officer was then unavailable for calls for service for approximately 45 minutes transporting and booking the prisoner. Off -duty officers utilizing a patrol car now transport their own prisoners and complete the booking, thus keeping on duty officers available for calls for service and patrol functions. Also, officers working off -duty using a patrol vehicle give the location and length of time they will be at the off -duty job. Both the officer and the off -duty employer know that the officer can be called to active duty at anytime for critical or emergency calls for service. This occurs with considerable frequency. Officers working off -duty at Total have left their off -duty jobs and apprehended armed robbers and burglars as well as responded to major accidents, roadblock assignments etc. They have also apprehended intoxicated drivers. Officers working Motiva have left their off duty jobs and apprehended armed robbers, a stolen vehicle fleeing from on duty officers after committing an armed robbery, armed burglars breaking into and surprising an employee of Parker Lumber company, major wrecks, and assisted in the capture of two robbery suspects from Nederland who fled into Port Arthur and shot and wounded Officer Tommy Gipson who was on duty. Off -Duty officers using patrol cars at the various apartment complexes and housing units handle any call for service at these locations while they are at the off -duty job. They make the arrests and handle any offense report. This keeps the on -duty officers from having to respond and leaves them available for other calls for service. Additionally, on those instances where calls for service overload the on -duty officers, the off -duty officers can be called upon to leave there off -duty job and assist in calls for service. Examples of this included off -duty officer being called upon to leave their off -duty job to block roadways due to a train derailment at Hwy 347 and Hwy 136. Off -duty officers being called from their off -duty job to block roadways for a pipeline rupture off -Hwy 69. The instances are numerous and frequent. In the last several years there has been the need for off -duty officers on a daily basis sometimes seven days a week for traffic direction and control at the refinery expansions. I will address the major one individually. The refineries did not have to take any action for this traffic direction. They could have simply said that the roadway and traffic direction is our responsibility. This would have been a crippling financial burden upon the City as overtime would have been needed to facilitate traffic flow. This will be explained in more detail. At one point in time, projects were taking place at Total Refining, Motiva Refining, and Valero all at the same time. Each necessitated traffic control. The highway system here is not designed for this type of traffic increase. Meetings were held with each company to discuss the traffic issues. They of course were interested in getting their workers into the plants safely and on time. Traffic plans were developed and redeveloped each time there was an increase or decrease in the work force. This was time consuming but a necessity. Total Refining: Total refinery caused a huge traffic flow increase on Hwy 366 and the surrounding roadways. The intersection at 32 St and Hwy 366 had to be controlled and coordinated with units further down the highway. Groves Police Department handled this intersection as it is within their jurisdiction. At the same time officers had to direct traffic from multiple directions into the parking lots. Six officers were employed on the Hwy. with four police units both in the morning and in the evening for over an hour directing traffic. Off duty officers were used and paid for by Total for this purpose. Officers from multiple jurisdictions had to be utilized as there were so many positions required by the combined refineries. Officers from the Port Arthur Police Department, Jefferson County Sheriff's Department, Orange County Sheriffs Department, Nederland Police Department, Groves Police Department, and several Constable Precincts were utilized. Jefferson County Sheriff's Department and the Groves Police Department used their vehicles as they have the same utilization policy for off -duty jobs as our Department. During the day from 5:OOam until usually 7:OOpm two officers remained at Total blocking the roadway while heavy equipment and contraction materials crossed the Hwy. I met with Total and they agreed to purchase two Dodge Ram pick -ups to be used for this purpose. These vehicles were equipped with lights and sirens and additionally stripped as Port Arthur Police vehicles at Total's expense. These vehicles were serviced, maintained and fueled at Total's expense for the officers to use. On occasion a city owned vehicle was used when one of these required service. When the job was completed, these two vehicles were donated to the City. The City Council accepted the donation of the vehicles. Both replaced city owned vehicles saving the city the cost of replacement vehicles. The cost of the vehicles, equipment and stripping is in the vicinity of $28,500 each for a total of $57,000. Those vehicles are in use today, one being used by the Fire Department and one by the Police Department. Motiva: This project and the required workers have been enormous. Motiva established park and rides at multiple locations as well as their own parking lots. Workers travel through Port Arthur to these locations either by private vehicle, bus, or both each morning and each afternoon. Park and rides were established in Beaumont on Cardinal Drive and on West Port Arthur Road outside of the City. Traffic control at these locations was handled by other law enforcement agencies on an off -duty basis but paid for by Motiva. Park and rides were established on Proctor Street extension, the old Hollywood Theatre on Hwy 73, and West Thomas at MLK in Port Arthur. The workers travel to these locations in their private vehicles and then are bussed to the Refinery at various gates on Savannah Ave. The Proctor Street extension and West Thomas locations each require traffic direction in the morning and evening to prevent gridlock due to the enormous number of vehicles on the roadway. The gates on Savannah Ave. also require traffic control to get the workers into and out of the refinery and have the smallest impact on traffic flow. Currently, 23 off -duty officers are utilized each morning and 25 each evening to facilitate traffic flow in Port Arthur. As you can see, there is no way that the Port Arthur Police Department can supply such manpower each morning and evening. The required overtime would have been staggering. Currently, Officers from the Port Arthur Police Department, Jefferson County Sheriff's Department and Orange County Sheriffs Department fill these off -duty jobs. Patrol cars are required to protect the officers and facilitate traffic flow. Normally six are utilized in the morning and eight in the evening some for an hour and some for two hours. Depending on the day, these cars could be from the Port Arthur Police Department or the Jefferson County Sheriffs Dept. or a combination of the two. Four police cars are used from 7:OOam to 5:OOpm each day at crossings on Savannah. Two of them are used in the mornings from 5:OOam to 7:OOam on Savannah for traffic flow and then are used for the crossings. These vehicles were deleted from the fleet. Several years ago the City Council authorized the acceptance of a donation from Motiva in the approximate amount of $14,000 to purchase new visi -bars and sirens. These were used to put on new patrol cars and the old equipment remained on the deleted vehicles. These vehicles were sent to Motiva to be utilized by off duty officers working the crossing. Motiva fuels these vehicles. These vehicles are secured each night on Motiva property. Replacement vehicles are used when these vehicles require maintenance. On some days they are not used for the crossings. On those days when the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department works the crossings Sheriff's Department vehicles are utilized. Presently, the construction work force at Motiva is reported to be approximately 14,000. Additionally, at present Valero has 1100 construction workers reporting to work. The traffic flow is enormous in the mornings and evenings. This situation is similar to moving every single resident of the City of Groves into Port Arthur each morning and getting them out each evening in a short period of time. The roadways are not designed to handle such traffic flow. This cannot take place without traffic control measures or the result would be gridlock and multiple accidents. Motiva has responded to citizen and Council member complaints of speeding through neighborhoods with the hiring of off -duty officers to cite speeders cutting through residential neighborhoods. The project has peaked and will short be greatly downsized. The traffic control requirements will end shortly as the Project will be completed in late November to early December. At that point almost all traffic control measures will end with a few working into 2012 until the Valero turnaround is complete. The traffic plans were worked out with each refinery and TxDot with shift hour so as to have as little impact on regular and school traffic as possible. Some off -duty officers arrive at 4:45am to begin traffic control so that it is complete by 7:OOam thus having little impact on other traffic. Traffic is cleared by 7:OOam each morning and 6:OOpm each evening. Again, traffic plans including shift change times, gate control, lighting at the gates, safety equipment, etc. were discussed and reviewed with each refinery. There simply are not sufficient Port Arthur Officers to conduct this traffic control alone, especially when multiple refineries had projects at the same time. Had the refineries took the position that the roadway was our responsibility, there would be no way that this Department could handle such traffic control. The cost would be staggering. An example of this would be the one week cost to Motiva of September 2, 2011. This one week cost is $43,153.75. It includes the one remaining lot outside the City on West Port Arthur Road which is handled by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department. That equates to $2,242,995 annually. I would like to point out that at the same time the Police Department began its Traffic Enforcement unit. Even with this huge increase in vehicle traffic out number of accidents has decreased each year. This year we have had on one fatality to date. I don't recall such every occurring in my 35 years of service. Please advise if further information is needed. Mark Blanton Chief of Police