The primary consideration for having a take home squad is based upon relevance to assignment and call back potential. The purpose of a take home vehicle is to allow for call back to duty without the requirement of first reporting to headquarters or to a district office.
All take home vehicles use must be approved by the chief of police (or his/her designee) via the Take-Home Squad Approval Application. Persons in assignments where take home vehicles are authorized will not be required to take a vehicle home; however, if they chose to do so they will be required to pay for the fuel consumed driving to and from their home when they report for their regularly scheduled shift. The fee will be set based on the number of miles the employee drives round trip and a cost per mile. This fee will be set annually by the chief of police.
Those employees who opt to utilize this program will fill out a payroll deduction form authorizing the commuter fee deduction and a Take-Home Squad Approval Application. These should be forwarded through the chain of command to the office of the chief for review. Once approved by the Chief (or his/her designee), the Inspections unit will forward a copy of the approval to the supervisor of the employee approved to use a take home vehicle. The unit supervisor or commander will be responsible for ensure that a person who leaves their unit or moves into their unit completes the proper paperwork and adheres to this policy.
Inspections and the fleet sergeant will conduct audits throughout the year to verify that the entire policy is being adhered to. A list of assigned take home vehicles will be maintained by the inspections unit. Annually inspections will forward a copy of this list to the fleet sergeant to compare with the payroll deduction information.
Canine officers, the full time ODU Sergeant and those people who live in the City of Saint Paul and have a fully marked squad as their authorized take home vehicle will not be required to pay the commute fee.
In general, take home vehicles shall not be permitted for those living outside the 7 county metro area or the State of Minnesota. The chief of police may make an exception to this based on the benefit to the department.
Additional policy on take home vehicle usage:
-
City vehicles will not be taken out of state without prior departmental approval.
-
No use of take home squads for outside business, except as approved by the department as in the case of off-duty employment in the city.
-
Take home vehicles, except for commuting purposes, are specifically restricted to use within the course and scope of official duties.
-
Any personal use of the vehicle, other than “de minimus” personal use, is prohibited.
-
The transportation of civilians is allowed when in conjunction with official departmental duties.
Revised August 30, 2017