SFPD officers benefit from vehicle take-home policy
More than half of them live outside the county
It’s no secret that Santa Fe can be an expensive place to live. People regularly pay thousands of dollars more per year to live in the city compared to surrounding areas. This is one of the reasons the Santa Fe Police Department, with City Council approval, implemented its vehicle take-home policy nearly 20 years ago. The policy allows Santa Fe police officers to drive their patrol vehicles 45 or 60 roadway miles (depending on when the officer joined the force) from the Santa Fe police station to their homes, wherever they might live — and taxpayers pick up the tab.
The vehicle take-home policy was put in place in 2003 as a recruiting tool since it was so expensive for officers to live in town. The policy initially allowed officers living within 60 miles of Santa Fe to take their cruisers home. That policy was modified to 45 miles in 2014 due to concerns that the 60-mile limit was too generous and was costing the city too much money, but it applied only to new hires.
Today, about 80 Santa Fe police officers — more than half of SFPD’s 141 sworn officers
— currently use the policy. About 35% of all SFPD officers live in either Albuquerque or Rio Rancho, according to information provided by the department. That includes Police Chief Andrew Padilla, who lives in Rio Rancho.
Fewer than 70, not even half of Santa Fe’s sworn officers, live in Santa Fe County.
The average round-trip commute for officers — including those who live in the county — is 58.10 miles. That amounts to about 8,366.8 total miles traveled by police officers going to and from work each day, according to the
department. And that translates to more than 3 million commuter miles per year.
No data is available reflecting the cost to Santa Fe taxpayers, who pay for the gas, and wear and tear on police vehicles.
Also worth considering is the loss of gross receipts and property taxes in Santa Fe from officers who live elsewhere.
SFPD Deputy Chief Ben Valdez said the vehicle take-home program is similar to what other agencies in the area are doing.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office also allows deputies to commute 65 driving miles from the sheriff’s office, according to its collective bargaining agreement.
About 55 of Santa Fe County’s sheriff deputies live outside the county, Juan Rios, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office, said.
The last time SFPD had “hot seat” vehicles — those that stay at the department and are used by multiple officers — was in the 1980s.
Valdez said the takehome policy saves the department money on vehicle maintenance, the additional miles to commute to and from work notwithstanding.
Vehicles used around the clock don’t last as long as take-home vehicles, he said.
In addition, take-home vehicles save officers about two hours every day, he claimed. If officers had hot seat vehicles, they would spend an hour at the start and the end of their shift inspecting and checking out equipment.
With take-home vehicles, officers can show up to work prepared, Valdez said.
Police also make the argument that, when officers commute, they can respond to calls faster because they are already on their way.
It’s also more efficient, Sr. Officer Joe LeBlanc said.
“When I’m coming up (Interstate) 25, I hear there’s a domestic violence incident on Center Drive, and they’re sending all these graveyard (shift) guys there,” LeBlanc said.
“Well, let’s face it, if there’s going to be an arrest, the graveyard guys can be stuck there for a couple of hours or more.”
He said that by intercepting these calls on the way to work, it saves the city money on overtime hours they would have had to pay the previous shift.
LeBlanc has been with the department for 17 years and moved from Santa Fe to Rio Rancho about seven years ago. He said his options were buying a mobile home in Santa Fe for $90,000 or moving to Rio Rancho and purchasing a threebedroom home for $119,000.
LeBlanc said the monthly mortgage payment for his home in Rio Rancho is about $470, compared to officers he knows who are paying about $1,800 a month for a home in Santa Fe.
LeBlanc said his commute wouldn’t affect how quickly he could respond to an emergency call. If there was an urgent call for officers, he said he could be at the station in about 30 minutes. He said he also finds his commute useful because, on the way, he can mentally prepare himself for work and he can decompress on the way home.
Another factor, which he said some officers don’t like to mention, is not living in the community that they police.
When LeBlanc was living in Santa Fe, he recalled a time when someone he had recently arrested came up to him at Walmart and threatened to kill him. His son, who was 5 at the time, was with him.
“So, I’m down there, guess what, I’ve never run into somebody I’ve arrested, not once,” LeBlanc said. “It’s just way better for raising your kids (and) good for my peace of mind. Officers don’t want to get involved in stuff when they’re not working if they don’t have to.”
That may be true, but, as critics of the policy pointed out when the City Council last addressed the police commute policy in 2014, one of the arguments in favor of the policy was that allowing officers to take their cruisers home would deter crime in their neighborhoods. That’s fine if they live in Santa Fe, but the argument doesn’t hold up as well if the neighborhood is in Rio Rancho or Albuquerque.
Valdez points to the policy as being a perk — something Santa Fe needs to do to keep pace with other departments and remain competitive in recruiting officers. He noted that when he joined the department in the mid-2000s, the takehome vehicle policy was an enticement. Without it, Valdez said he likely wouldn’t be with the department.
Though they may not live in Santa Fe, Valdez and LeBlanc said officers like themselves who commute into work still have a love for the city.
Valdez said he was born in Santa Fe and his family lives here.
LeBlanc said not living there doesn’t mean he wouldn’t do anything for it.
“We would give our life for Santa Fe,” LeBlanc said. “Even though we don’t live here, I will lay my life down in a heartbeat if I had to for the city that I work in.”