The Next Great Debate

Soon, I am sure the great debate of Take Home Patrol Cars will come up in the great chambers of city hall. And there are many people who feel that the very act of a police officer having a 24 hour patrol car is an abuse of authority, and waste of tax payer money, etc.
But let me relate to you a little story, and we will have to reach back into some antiquity to set the stage right.....
One summer night, what seems like a lifetime ago, two police officers had just finished their tour of duty on second shift. One of them the shift Sergeant, the other was the shift Corporal. Just as they had done for God knows how long, they went to the police headquarters to turn in the patrol car, the huge bulky two way radios for the next shift to use. The climbed into a soft top 1976 Jeep CJ-7, grey with silver stripes, they carpooled to work as these two officers lived right down the street from each other.
On the way home, they stopped at what was then "the state street store", to pick up a few things. The walked through the doors of the store right into the middle of an armed robbery. Now this was back in the days before our officers had bullet proof vests, semi-automatic pistols, etc...
The Sergeant was reportedly greeted with 12 gauge shotgun, and immediately gunfire broke out, thankfully, neither officer was hit, nor was the store clerk, but if memory serves me correctly, all three suspects were wounded, one with a shot to the face, one with multiple shots to his upper leg, and the third, memory eludes me as to his injuries.
In the moments after the shooting, and right before the shooting these two officers were alone, no radio to call for backup, no patrol car with a 12 gauge of their own to match firepower, no extra ammunition outside of the 18 shots, 6 in the revolver, and 12 on the belt.
It took a little while for back up to get there, to seal the scene and get the wounded to hospital, it takes time to match up a set of keys on a peg board to a car parked outside the station, precious seconds that can cost lives.
These two Officers were Sergeant Bruce Drake, and Corporal Mike Helms, both of which are gone now, if they were here, they could both attest to the importance of take home cars. Because not too long after that incident the city had purchased a handful of used dodge aspen 6 cylinder cars slapped some monstrously large light bars on the top and dressed them up with the insignia that clearly labeled them as New Albany Police cars, brandished with a proud "24 Hour Patrol" on the sides.
Nothing truly of note happened in the years following the shooting, a few major accidents of the highways, severe weather incidents, large fires which required extra officers to ensure that the city was properly covered.
That is until July 27Th, 1996 John Ingle walked into Tommy Lancaster's restaurant and shot his wife, Debbie, to death with a .45 caliber handgun. Officer Russ Witt responded to the scene and had went after the suspect on foot. Officer Witt was shot 5 times with that .45 caliber pistol, and was left basically to die.
This time around, there WERE take home cars, and the turn out of Officers was immediate, Officer Witt was taken to the hospital were he eventually recovered from his wounds, with the exception of on .45 slug that had to stay in his back.
An intensive man hunt began, and the area was effectively sealed off, leaving virtually no escape route for Ingle, who was soon captured.
We have had other incidents in this city where Officers have needed immediate assistance, and the community needed more than the four or five officers on the street to resolve the situations, The stabbing of Officer Laura Shook, the shooting of Officer Dannie Price, and the Murder of Officer Denzinger and serious wounding of Officer White, both from the Floyd County Police Department.
Yes, it costs money to have take home cars, and yes there will always be those who criticise everything the police do.
But we do not even have the luxury of having a police force that has the proper number of Officers as that relates to the population, and quite frankly shit happens. What is the cost this community is willing to pay to save money? An officer being wounded, or killed, or people who need help right at shift change having to wait for officers to find their assigned patrol car, transfer all the equipment that modern law enforcement requires into the car?
Those who would seek to do away with take home cars would probably be the first to raise holy hell if their call for help was delayed, or if their loved one was in need of immediate assistance, and in an effort to save money, there simply were not enough officers available to get the job done.........