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Taxpayers Fuel Officers' Daily Commute

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By JACK HARRIS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 22, 2008

In my opinion you can't pay our police officers enough, seeing as, like the military, they are risking their lives to protect us. But there's an interesting perk that Tampa police officers enjoy that is growing by leaps and bounds. That is, it increases commensurate with gasoline prices. Many officers who live anywhere in Tampa, Hillsborough County and any adjacent county, meaning Pinellas, Pasco, Polk or Manatee, are allowed to take their cars home and their gas is paid for.

On top of that, it's an inequitable benefit since those who choose not to reside in the city that they serve have a much larger emolument than those who make Tampa their home. In other words, the farther you drive into an adjacent county, the more you get in taxpayer-paid gas, thus enlarging your benefit. It's a perquisite that goes well beyond what other area crime fighters receive.

Of the 985 take-home cars in the department, nearly 400 go into other parts of Hillsborough County, while only 261 stay in town. That's understandable being as the cost of living is somewhat lower in the county.

But that leaves 330 that maximize their perk by living outside the county, including nearly as many who commute to Pasco County as who live in Tampa.

There's no question that having a police car in a neighborhood driveway is a deterrent to crime to some degree. You might say that the presence of the police vehicle is almost like having a sentinel on duty. Considering that Pasco County has only 350 law enforcement deputies, the addition of 330 tax-free law enforcers in the neighborhoods is quite a bonus.

But the most interesting feature of the free gas perk is that it has become exponentially more expensive since it was won by the police union. That means the total compensation packages of those who drive a lot have been enlarged tremendously. Those who live closest to where they patrol have gained the least.

Maybe someday we'll have an all electric car fleet and then we'll just charge it.

Cybervoting Capital

What does bride-to-be Courtney Dempsey have in common with Tampa Bay Rays baseball star Evan Longoria? Both are winners thanks to the cyber power of the Tampa Bay area. Courtney and her groom-to-be, Gary Courtney (yes, she will become Courtney Courtney), were winners of a nationwide contest sponsored by US Magazine that offered a $100,000 wedding (how do you blow 100 grand on a wedding, most guys want to know) to the winner, which was determined by online voting. They emerged from 40,000 entrants.

Longoria, on the other hand, had to beat out only three other guys to get a spot on the All-Star Game roster, but again, it was done with online balloting.

It says something about our population, only the 19th largest market in the country, that we responded in such a powerful fashion. Could we be the Cybervoting Capital of America?

Jocularly,

Jack

Jack Harris co-hosts AM Tampa Bay from 6 to 9 weekday morning on WFLA-AM.

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