Security Service Finds Success With Small Cars In Fleet

Stop-and-go city traffic can be rough on any car, and it gets even rougher if low-speed operation and long periods of idling are the only use a vehicle gets. Nowhere else are these conditions more evident than in the operation of police or security service vehicles.

While the strategy of most law enforcement agencies is to use large V-8 powered vehicles equipped with heavy-duty components, a small security firm in West Los Angeles has taken a totally different route by replacing its fleet with small, fuel-efficient sub-compacts equipped with four-cylinder engines, automatic transmission and not much else.

George Gibbs, president of Security Service Systems, Inc., felt the larger, more powerful vehicles were literally tearing themselves apart when subjected to low-speed, limited use in commercial and residential property patrol. As a result he replaced his fleet in 1975 with 10 Datsun B-210s and still uses that line of vehicle in his operation.

Gibbs' firm, which has over 2,000 residential and commercial accounts in West Los Angeles, provides patrol, inspection and lock-up services for its clients and the company's officers mainly work at night, seven days a week, 365 days per year. "These services, when they started back in the '20s and '30s" Gibbs explained, "were known then as door shakers. In other words, they went around shaking doors to see if they were locked."

Since that time, the industry has grown in size and sophistication and offers many services other than the traditional function of catching burglars. "It's really an inspection service," Gibbs said, adding that watching for fires is another key element in the service. The firm will also lock and unlock business, check the inside of buildings several times a night, and report such unusual happenstances as burst pipes and flooding.

Homeowner groups that wish additional residential patrols are two of the company's major accounts. As part of the residential package, the firm will pick up mail and newspapers of vacationing clients, and generally keep a watch over the neighborhood. "We're a deterrent," Gibbs told Security World, a security-industry publication, "helping the police by relieving them of a lot of the burden they would otherwise have."

The company didn't always have its fleet of vehicles for use by its officers. Gibbs, who purchased Security Service Systems in 1945 as an adjunct to his accounting practice, used to drive some for the routes himself in a 1940 Packard. His patrol personnel furnished their own transportation. "Back in those days everyone used his own car and we would supply a little gas money," Gibbs said. "The car could have been a junker and it could have a good one, but more often than not it was a junker." In 1950, recognizing the need to project a professional image to the clients he was serving and to the community in general, Gibbs purchased his first car for use by the service. "We bought a typical, medium-sized Chevrolet, the kind used by many law-enforcement agencies as a police car during that time."

Noting that up until recent times his car selections have mirrored those made by law-enforcement agencies, Gibbs stressed that his vehicles are marked in such a way that no one would confuse his officers with the police. "The city approves the marking that will go on a car and they discourage shields and that type of thing which would confuse the public," Gibbs said, adding that some other patrol firms go so far as to mount light bars that have orange rather than red lights on the tops of their cars, and dress their officers with uniforms that closely resemble those of motorcycle officers. "We're a low-key outfit, we're not cops. It's an inspection service, although our men do wear uniforms and carry guns."

Over the years, the company had used Chevrolets, Fords and Plymouths. The low speeds, high idling time, and constant maneuvering took a heavy toll on the vehicles and as a result of the type of use, fuel economy suffered.

In 1975, Gibbs sold the larger portion of the firm and turned to manage the smaller patrol division. At that time, a decision was made to try smaller vehicles to improve economy of operation. It was a tough decision because Gibbs felt the larger cars were important to presenting a professional image in the community. "But costs were becoming prohibitive, so we looked for a more economical yet efficient means of transportation and switched to the Datsuns." The immediate effect was a lessening of the company's fuel bills.

"It made me realize on a day-to-day basis how much money I paid the gas station every day," Gibbs said. "At that time it was $5 versus $15 for a fill-up." With fuel costs doubling since that time, Gibbs said he isn't paying much more for fuel than he was in 1975, yet fuel costs all around have skyrocketed. "One of the vehicles runs about 100 miles each night and that driver uses less than five gallons," Gibbs said in explaining the efficiency. That route, he said, covers quite a bit of territory and the driver does not have as many stops and starts as some of the others. In residential patrolling, drivers average 60 to 70 miles per night. These units are driven about 15 miles per hour, there are many stops and starts, and oftentimes the cars are left idling for extended periods. "These cars use about four gallons," Gibbs said.

With a 10-gallon tank, Gibbs said his drivers are filling up every two days instead of every day, as was the case with the older, larger cars. "We used to fill the old cars every day and the drivers would go through a tankful per night. The Datsuns do a little better, we can run them two days before filling them up. When the stations are closed on Sunday, we make sure the cars are filled Saturday and we can get by. The 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week station is a thing of the past," Gibbs noted.

He estimates that the cost savings over the bigger cars has been about 50-percent and added that the units come basically stock. "With the old vehicles we would order a lot of heavy-duty components such as heavy-duty alternators and the like. We use those cars as they come from the dealer; the only option to speak of is the automatic transmission."

Gibbs said he has had no trouble with the automatics and that the transmissions have saved many repair bills. When the company used cars with manual transmissions, the drivers were always going through clutches because of the constant stopping and starting of the vehicles during patrol. This heavy use, coupled with the many turns and maneuvers getting in and out of driveways and up and down hilly residential areas, tends to wear brakes and tires out rather quickly, even on the Datsuns, although Gibbs feels that they probably get better wear out of the Datsuns because the cars are lighter and there is less of a load on these components.

"The bigger cars, with all the starting and stopping, tend to tear themselves apart because there is much more weight to pull and stop. And you've got a lot of different drivers, they're in and out of driveways, and there's a lot of wear and tear on the vehicles," Gibbs told Security World.

"With the small Datsuns, you don't go ripping out like you do in an eight-cylinder car and the result is that, as in life itself, if you move slower you're going to last a lot longer. I found these Datsuns just run forever with fewer problems."

Even though the life itself is extended on the subcompacts, Gibbs noted that the Datsuns require brakes every 5,000 to 6,000 miles and that tires rarely last more than 10,000 miles. In addition to the many starts and stops, the officers are getting in and out of the vehicles continually. This adds up to extra wear and tear on such items as seats, door handles and window cranks, problems that business fleets rarely encounter. These minor problems aside, Gibbs said the drivers are happy with the cars and that they appreciate the small car's maneuverability and performance.

While the vehicles are leased from a local Datsun dealer in Culver City, Gibbs prefers to have all his mechanical work, including some warranty covered items, done at a local service station. Although he is satisfied with his dealer, Gibbs feels that taking his service to the dealer is not that convenient. "Our local garage knows that these cars have got to roll," Gibbs said. All maintenance records are kept for the security firm by the garage. With only 12 vehicles in the fleet, Gibbs said his fleet size does not justify even a part-time mechanic.

The firm leases the vehicles on a 24-month open-end contract through the dealer, according to Gibbs. While the 36-month contract seems popular with other fleets, Gibbs feels the 24-month term is best for his fleet "because the cars still look pretty good after two years. We program residuals where we might make a buck or two," he said. At trade-in time, the vehicles have approximately 50,000 to 60,000 miles on their odometers. Gibbs said that he once purchased the vehicles at the end of the lease period, and although the vehicles performed satisfactorily, he wouldn't do it again because of reconditioning and repair costs. By the time the vehicles were ready to be resold, Gibbs said, they were fairly worn out.

In order to better care for the vehicles, Gibbs said he is making an effort to watch routes and have the vehicles assigned to the same drivers each night. "If one person is responsible for the car," Gibbs said, "he's going to take care of it. The added effort to schedule the driver to the same car as well as the cost of an extra car to cover whenever one of the regular route vehicles is down, would probably pay for itself."

While the vehicles are in service, they are equipped with portable VHF radios and hand-held spotlights which are plugged into the car's cigarette lighter. Patrolmen remove the radios at the end of their shift and store them in the firm's office.

In summing up his operation, Gibbs said, "We think of ourselves as an inspection service and not a little police department, so we have more credibility with the police. We maintain a low profile in law-enforcement activity, but a high profile in patrol service as a crime-deterrent factor."