KANSAS CITY, MO- The Kansas City Missouri Police Department will revise its take-home car policy and revoke the take-home status of 60 vehicles in response to an internal audit released July 24, according to the Kansas City Star. Police Chief James Corwin expects this to save an estimated $178,080 to $179,400 a year.

The Department's Internal Audit Unit does an annual review of take-home cars to determine who is using them, how much fuel they used and whether they are being used according to policy. The last audit, completed in August 2008, revealed a 7.3 percent-increase in the take-home fleet from 2007 to 2008. It also showed some of those vehicles had fuel usage that was above the department average. 

Auditors began to examine the reasons for the increase and found that the self-reporting process for take-home cars is flawed, and not all vehicles being operated as take-home cars were being properly reported.

In response to this audit, Chief Corwin asked the Internal Audit Unit to physically verify the location of all the department's 1,000-plus vehicles, including bicycles, trailers, and specialty vehicles such as Tactical Unit tanks.

He also ordered the policy regarding take-home vehicles to be revised, now underway. He further has requested a follow-up audit in February 2010 to ensure the reductions in the take-home fleet and conformity to the department's policy.

The full audit report is available online at www.kcpd.org/kcpd2004/AuditFiles.htm.