The Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) Transportation Division has downsized its motor vehicle fleet to the benefit of 16 other law enforcement agencies, departments and offices. The decision to downsize was made before the Governor’s executive order to reduce the state’s fleet inventory issued in May 2023.
Changes related to vehicle use policies reduced the number of vehicles OCC needed for its officers. This created an equipment savings of more than half a million dollars. All division enforcement vehicles must now be based at its ports of entry and weigh stations instead of assigning vehicles to each enforcement officer.
“After personnel and IT-related costs, maintaining a vehicle fleet is easily one of the largest expenses for an agency” said OCC Director of Administration Brandy Wreath. “We conducted a full review of our vehicle fleet to ensure we were complying with all state guidelines and that our fleet was operated and assigned efficiently. The result was a realized savings of more than $500,000 that we then budgeted for career progression within the division.”
In keeping with its focus on maximizing state resources, OCC decided the best thing to do would be to donate the vehicles to law enforcement entities struggling to replace aging fleet vehicles due to budget limitations, rather than ignoring their critical need and putting the vehicles in a state surplus auction.
“It was great being able to help our brothers and sisters in blue with well-maintained police vehicles,” Wreath said. “Perhaps best of all, two other state agencies – the Department of Public Safety (DPS) and the Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training (CLEET) – also benefitted from the donation. Some recipient departments have even sent us pictures of their updated patrol cars.”
Among those sending pictures in gratitude was the Stigler Police Department, which received two 2017 Dodge Chargers. Chief Gary Ballinger said the department added one of the Charges to the School Resource Officer (S.R.O.) Program.
“We outfitted the Charger with the high school in mind,” Ballinger said. “A high school student helped design the decals for the vehicle. The donations came at a perfect time saving the city a lot of money.”
The donations were made on a first-come, first-served basis.
Here’s a complete list of the 16 agencies, county sheriff offices, and municipal police departments taking delivery of the vehicles in FY2024:
- CLEET – 6
- DPS – 5
- Atoka County Sheriff – 1
- Choctaw County Sheriff – 1
- Haskell County Sheriff – 2
- Murray County Sheriff -1
- Boley PD – 1
- Davis PD – 1
- Gore PD – 1
- Hugo PD – 2
- Lone Grove PD – 2
- Spiro PD – 2
- Stigler PD – 2
- Tonkawa PD – 2
- Valliant PD – 2
- Murray State College PD – 1