LAPD Is Not Using the Electric BMWs It Announced In 2016 (cbslocal.com)

mi shares a report from CBS Los Angeles: "In a 2016 well-choreographed press conference, LAPD Chief Charlie Beck got out of an electric BMW driven by Mayor Garcetti to tout the city's ambitious project [to provide electric cars for the department]," reports CBS Los Angeles. "The cost: $10.2 million, which includes charging stations." However, the cars have seen very little use. With the monthly lease payment of a little more than $418, one vehicle ends up costing taxpayers over $15 a mile to use. Some of the use they do get is improper too, alleges CBS Los Angeles, citing footage captured from several hidden cameras. "We followed someone after leaving the downtown police garage; they went to the drive-through at Yoshinoya," reports CBS. "On another day, someone drove from downtown LA to Loyola Marymount University in West LA, picked up someone who appeared to be a student, and went to lunch." The deputy chief is looking into what CBS found and says the cars are to be used for business only.

Comments

Management and Government Finances at their finest

[Anonymous Coward]

Los Angeles is mostly full of trash no matter how you slice it and most times I'd rather be around the police than the citizens they have to babysits.. "HOLLYWOOD BRO! SMOKE WEED BRO! THATS GUCCI BRO!"

Two hours at 25mph is a shift?

[raymorris]

In an eight-shift, yes a cop will drive a lot more than 50 miles.

Re:Two hours at 25mph is a shift?

[whoever57]

These vehicles had the range-extender engine (REx), so daily max range is about 150 - 200 miles (depending on the battery option).

Re:Wait: A policemen used a police car to get lunc

[Xenx]

It doesn't cost $15/mile to operate. The lease payment divided by the number of miles driven on average is $15/mile.

Re:The supposed reason...

[iggymanz]

looking at stats for patrol cars in Chicago and nearby (which have 2 or 3 operators per day), 120+ miles per day is normal

Re: Toys for Thugs

[jawtheshark]

I only read the headline, and I assumed it *would* be the i8. That said: the i8 is not an electric vehicle. It's a hybrid, which is electric up to 120kmh and the petrol engine kicks in for anything above that. Still decent, and I presume you can drive it as an all electric most of the time. That still makes it a hybrid.

Where I live, the police got two Teslas for police usage. The funny part is: they are not street legal, because the blue lights are aftermarket and were mounted by the police maintenance. The service that checks for road fitness refuses to give them the "ok" because that needs to be tested in a wind canal and they don't have one. So, they are scheduled to be tested abroad and to get their street legality certificate but they have been standing around unused for months.

Other brands of cars don't have this problem, because if you order a police car from them, the lights are already mounted by the manufacturer and the paperwork is ok.