New Rochelle police slash number of cruisers, save gas

New Rochelle residents will see fewer police cruisers on city streets after the decision by the local police department to decrease the number of patrol cars due to soaring gas prices. As of Sept. 1,

News 12 Staff

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Aug 27, 2008, 11:45 PM

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Updated 5,812 days ago

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New Rochelle residents will see fewer police cruisers on city streets after the decision by the local police department to decrease the number of patrol cars due to soaring gas prices.

As of Sept. 1, the New Rochelle Police Department will have spent its entire $208,000 gasoline budget for 2008, with four months left in the year.

?The increase in fuel is a little more than we anticipated,? says New Rochelle City Manager Charles Strome, ?so we will probably be over [the] budget on fuel cost this year.?

Police officials say, however, that regardless of the gasoline cost, their presence in the community will not diminish.

Strome says it is not necessarily a bad thing to have fewer officers behind the wheel.

?Our downtown businesspeople have been asking for more foot patrols, more segway patrols, more bike patrols,? Strome says.

And residents say police presence has increased in town.

?I do see a lot of police these days on bicycles,? says Liz Luchsinger, of New Rochelle.

Police representatives emphasize it is not a reduction in the police force but just a reduction in the number of patrol cars on the streets.

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