As any reporter schooled in the “journalistic six” – who, what, when, where, why, and how – will tell you there are no dumb questions. Questions are a journalist’s stock-in-trade.
Excluding the endless fusillade of questions by a two-year old, the astronomer and planetary scientist Carl Sagan wrote, “There are naive questions, tedious questions, ill-phrased questions, questions put after inadequate self-criticism. But every question is a cry to understand the world. There is no such thing as a dumb question.”
With that introduction, the Estes Valley Voice editors and writers would like to invite your good questions, and we will do our best to ferret out the answer or answers.
For example, one Estes Valley Voice reader reached out and asked about the Town of Estes Park’s policy and the cost of allowing police officers to drive a town owned police vehicle home.
The question was a good one, and we figured “enquiring minds want to know” (yes, the original spelling of the phrase made famous by The National Enquirer is enquiring with an e, not inquiring with an i). So, we asked.
If you have a good question about something related to life in the Estes Valley – a policy question, a history question, a logistics question – pitch it to us at news@estesvalleyvoice.com and if it is a good question, we will try to get you an answer. Chances are that your friends and neighbors are probably interested in the question and answer.
Can you please tell the Estes Valley Voice readers what the policy is on Estes Park Police Department officers driving their cars back-and-forth to their homes when they do not live in our community?
Town Policy 315 governs Vehicle and Equipment Use for all Town departments including the EPPD. Section 3.e pertains to take-home vehicles. Only employees authorized by their Department Director or designee are allowed to drive departmental vehicles to the employee’s residence for emergency (off-duty) use. Vehicles are not approved for take-home usage outside of the Estes Park School District R-3 area with the following exceptions:
- Vehicles being used to attend to official Town business (e.g., meetings and trainings);
- Police take-home patrol vehicles transporting prisoners; or
- When such use is deemed by the Department Director to be in the best interest of the Town.
While many police departments allow broad take-home vehicle use as a recruitment and retention strategy, the Town has not pursued that strategy to date. With one exception (described below), only officers that live within the Park R-3 School District boundary are allowed routine use of take-home vehicles. Most of our neighboring law enforcement agencies not only allow take home cars, and for longer commutes, they also allow those cars for full off duty use.
Who authorizes an officer to have an EPPD vehicle at their home outside of Estes Park?
Regular take-home use of a vehicle would need to be approved by the Police Chief as the Department Director.
How many officers have the permission or authority to do this?
Currently, only one officer has permission to have an EPPD vehicle at home outside of the Park R-3 School District boundary on a regular basis (Chief Stewart). Town Administrator Machalek granted this permission. Other officers may receive permission from the Police Chief to drive an EPPD vehicle to a home outside the Park R-3 School District boundary after transporting a prisoner to the Larimer County Jail, attending a training or a meeting, or other cases as business needs arise.
Does the town know how much this may cost the community in terms of gasoline and wear and tear on vehicles?
If the Town were ever to look at expanding the take-home vehicle program outside of the Park R-3 District Boundary, in order to be more competitive in the employment market, we would complete an analysis on the marginal cost increase of doing so.
How big is the EPPD fleet?
The EPPD has 26 vehicles.
At any given time, how many EPPD cars are out of Estes Park?
Only one member of the department has permission to routinely drive a take-home vehicle outside of the Park R-3 boundary. However, there are often days where multiple EPPD vehicles are out of the Park R-3 boundary attending meetings and training, transporting prisoners, or attending to other Town business.