The city auditor said Wednesday the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department is not living up to its promise of properly tracking costs when officers take their squad cars home.
Whenever there's an emergency in Kansas City, officers need to response quickly. That's why the department has more than 300 cruisers assigned as take-home vehicles.
"The number of police department take-home vehicles is growing," Douglas Jones, the city auditor, said.
The city auditor presented his findings on how the department could improve its policy that he says costs $1.5 million when you add up mileage and gas.
Top brass took issue with the auditor's methodology.
"Take-home vehicles still have responsibilities when it's at work so they have to be purchased, we felt that was not accurate, that was comparing apples to oranges," Maj. Karl Oakman, KCPD commander of the Logistical Support Division, said.
Despite a police chief blog in 2012 that says, "Take-home vehicle use is carefully monitored so it is not abused," the auditor said while the information exists, it's not easy to find.
"We looked at some of the data to understand the program, but trying to get your hands on it is difficult in the manner in which it's retained," Jones said.
The auditor wants the department to come up with better ways to share program costs and alternatives with the board of police commissioners to improve oversight.
The city auditor will present the report to the Board of Police Commissioners next month.
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Andres Gutierrez can be reached at andres.gutierrez@kshb.com
