Local Law Enforcement Feeling The Pain At The Pump

The average price of gas in Dothan is $3.39 a gallon. That's up 15-cents from just a week ago. The rising price of gas has people digging deep to cover the cost.

Can you imagine if your job was to patrol neighborhoods or rural counties roads all day? That's the reality for Dothan Police Department and the Houston County Sheriff's Office.

Sheriff Andy Hughes says his office spends 20-thousand dollars a month of fuel.

" A lot of times deputies, depending on how busy the shift is will put  on average 200 miles per shift on their car. That's between answering calls and routine patrols," said Hughes.

Sheriff Hughes says it's hard to conserve gas when deputies are on the road majority of the work day.

" People call the sheriff department to come and answer their calls, we're ordered by the court to transport  prisoners so there's not a whole lot of sitting still some where trying to conserve fuel," said Hughes.

The Dothan Police Department has a large fleet of patrol cars that's on the road morning and night. With gas prices steadily rising, Corporal Rachel David says you may find more patrol cars parked, and officers using other modes of transportation to patrol the streets.

" We encourage more foot patrol. For officers to park a vehicle in an area that they're going to be patrolling  and do much of the area on foot," said David.

David says officers are also being more conscious about idling their vehicles.

" They're taking the opportunities to switch the cars off if they have that options. So we're just trying to be a bit more cost effective," said David.

One thing is for sure the commitment level of both law enforcement agencies will not go down, just because gas prices are going up.