Would You Pay $10,920 A Year For Each Police Car? You Do!

I watched the blue and white patrol car start its climb up Queen Anne Hill. Several dents were apparent, and a hubcap was missing.

The car sputtered, then lurched forward. The cop looked over and laughed.

It wasn't so much funny ha-ha, and it was funny can-you-believe-it?

You probably won't, once you hear what that stalling police car costs you, as a city taxpayer, per month.

Including replacement fee, non-warranty maintenance costs and an administration charge, your tab comes to $910, thank you.

That's correct. Almost a thousand dollars per month is what the Police Department pays another city department for each of its 162 patrol cars.

Per unit, that comes to $10,920 a year, or $27,300 over the average life - 30 months - of a patrol car. Some are kept longer and cost as much as $35,000.

Police also lease 25 traffic cars, used less frequently than patrol vehicles, at $495 each a month.

Additionally, the department has paid around $25,000 on the lease for Chief Patrick Fitzsimons' low-maintenance 1985 Buick, which won't be replaced until next year.

The Buick's monthly lease currently runs $320, or $3,840 a year for a 7-year-old car.

None of those costs includes insurance or gasoline.

"Basically, I think (the leases are) a good deal," Dick de Camp said.

"I know the average Joe isn't going to think that," said de Camp, fleet manager for the Department of Administrative Services (DAS), the city department that leases vehicles to other city departments.

"But there's a lot of wear and tear and maintenance involved with a patrol car used 24 hours a day."

Don Matthews, secretary-treasurer of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, sees it more as a case of highway robbery.

"This isn't a contractual issue so we can't do much about it except inform the public it's happening," said Matthews. "But I think you can figure out for yourself what kind of car you could get for $900 a month. It sure wouldn't be a 3-year-old Dodge."

The guild sees the Department of Administrative Services as a sneaky middleman. It buys the cars with city money, then leases them to the budget-strapped Police Department at higher rates and, police sources suggest, with the gain going to other city departments.

"When we say we need more officers, they say, well, you're already getting all this money," said a ranking officer.

Dennis Law, publisher of Police Beat, a monthly tabloid of city crime (which mentioned the high cost of leases in a recent report) thinks the price is inflated.

"Look at the county," Law said yesterday. "They lease patrol cars for $670 a month, and that includes gas and insurance. You have to question the city's costs."

Responds Seattle's de Camp:

"The county has more cars, because they've got more distance to cover and they let officers take the cars home. Their maintenance is also lower.

"We've decided to go with fewer cars and higher usage because we think it's the best way."

The affable De Camp gave this breakdown, so to speak, on the expenses of an average Seattle cop car:

The $910 a month lease includes $500 put into a fund to eventually replace the car, $375 for maintenance, and $30 a month for administrative (DAS) fees.

He figures the Department of Administrative Services buys the average patrol car and equips it for about $15,000 - which it recoups from the Police Department in 30 payments of $500. Or more, if the car is retained longer, which it often is: 41 cars are 1987 models or older, de Camp said. There is also a return when cars are resold - at 10 per cent of their original cost.)

The $375 monthly maintenance charge (or $11,250 for the average life of the car) is justified, de Camp says, because the average patrol car each year requires two sets of tires, several complete brake jobs, and other equipment repair in addition to regular lube jobs and oil changes.

"They're in the shop 1 1/2 hours a week," he said. "On average."

As for one department charging another department an administrative fee, de Camp said, "It's just a way of knowing what things cost.

"If we didn't include it - to make ourselves look better - it might be thought of as a hidden subsidy and you guys (reporters) would probably dig it up."

Really, $30,000 per cop car is a good deal, he insists. Do I hear any disagreement out there, humble taxpayer?

Rick Anderson's column appears Tuesday and Thursday on the Neighborhoods page and Saturday on A 2 of The Times.