Gadget Could Cut Gas Use for Police Cruisers

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- A modern police squad car has a whole laundry list of on-board electronic devices.

Camera, computer, printer, radar and radio, sirens and lights, flashlight chargers and even weapons locks all run on electricity.

With all those tools dependent on the car battery, officers frequently leave their cars running almost nonstop during a shift for fear of draining their batteries.

Now Cedar Falls police cars will be equipped with yet another gadget. This one would start and stop the engine as needed to keep the battery running.

Havis, the Warminster, Pa., company that makes IdleRight, claims the product monitors the battery status and starts the vehicle when the level dips too low.

In addition, the unit comes with an anti-theft device to prevent a would-be car thief from driving away in a running squad car.

Havis estimates a squad car idling at an emergency for six hours would use as much as four gallons of gas. They claim the same car using the IdleRight system would use than one-quarter gallon of gas.

"We do a lot of idling. If it can reduce wear and tear on an engine, it's worth it," Police Chief Jeff Olson said.

Sometimes in the summer, officers find their squad cars overheat after idling for long periods at accident or crime scenes.

Cedar Falls had looked at a number of different options to deal with the battery and idling issues. For a time, they installed a second battery in the trunk, but that solution didn't work either.

Olson said the idling units have cost $321 per car, an amount that could be made up relatively quickly through gas savings.

So far, just one of the squad cars has had it installed.

Police officer Brian Menke spent a couple days using the car equipped with IdleRight this week and said the technology takes care of itself, he didn't have to think about it at all.

Havis designed the equipment specifically for emergency and construction vehicles that would be on scenes for a long time, usually with warning lights flashing continuously.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service