Times are tough – police departments all over the country are being careful about expenses for vehicle fuel.

Only one of a number of fuel-conservation strategies adopted by the NYPD.

Shaila Dewan reports in The New York Times that police departments across the country are adapting to higher gasoline prices with innovation, and sometimes clear benefits. From As Gas Prices Rise, Police Turn to Foot Patrols

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As gasoline soars past the $4-a-gallon mark, police chiefs in towns and cities across the country are ordering their officers out of the car and onto their feet in a budgetary scramble.

“It’s changing the way we police,” said Chief Mike Jones of the Suwanee Police Department, who has asked his officers to walk for at least one hour of every shift. “We’re going to have to police smarter than we have in the past.”

Chief Jones budgeted about $60,000 for fuel in the fiscal year that ended last month; the department spent $94,000. This year, he budgeted $163,000 – a large line item in a budget of $3.8 million.

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Departments have switched to lower octane gasoline and installed G.P.S. receivers in patrol cars to make dispatching more efficient. State troopers have gone from cruising the highways to sitting and monitoring traffic in “stationary patrols.”

Salt Lake City is considering raising charges on city employees who are permitted to use government vehicles to drive to and from work:

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