Iowa Department of Public Safety vehicles sustained a five-year high of $849,878 worth of damage in 220 incidents in 2018, department officials said.
Although only six more incidents were reported in 2018 than in 2017, the total damage reported in 2017 was worth $519,429 — $330,449 less than in 2018. The total damage for the two years combined cost $1.37 million.
Lt. Rick Pierce, commander of Iowa State Patrol Fleet and Supply, said the cost of repairs may sound like a lot, but the Department of Public Safety has approximately 650 vehicles.
The most common cause of damage was “act of nature damage,” including at least 59 accidents involving deer reported in both 2017 and 2018, funding requests sent to the Executive Council of Iowa reveal. Hail was the second most common with 36 accidents reported to the council in the same time span, records examined by IowaWatch showed.
Pierce did not provide a specific explanation for why the cost was significantly higher in 2018, but said reasons could be an increase in pursuits, hail damage or deer populations in a given year.
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Pierce said the agency does all it can to minimize the public’s net cost, including selling old equipment and salvaging usable materials from cars taken out of operation.
“We really seek to try to build the safest cars, and at the same time, be as responsible as we can with the taxpayers’ funds — we really do try to save everything we can,” he said.
Another factor in the cost of the damages is beyond the cause or the vehicle, but in where repairs are done. Although the Department of Public Safety owns a more than 3,000-square-feet shop in Des Moines, no repairs are done in the facility, Pierce said. The shop is for storage, salvage and installation of equipment, he said.
All repairs to the vehicles are done by private businesses approved by the state as vendors, often by dealerships. Repairs are done as quickly as possible, Pierce said, with Fleet and Supply approving them.
More than $500,000 of the repair costs were reimbursed by the state for 2017 and 2018 via the Executive Council of Iowa, which reimburses costs when damage is a result of vandalism, theft or an act of nature that results in at least $2,000 of damage.
Insurance paid for most of the repair costs. The state seeks reimbursement from the other driver in vehicle collisions in which that motorist is found liable. State insurance pays when a Department of Public Safety official is found liable.
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Jim Wittenwyler, director of the administrative services division of the Department of Public Safety, submits a request to the council for reimbursement if the damage is more than $2,000 and falls within categories that qualify for Executive Council reimbursement.
While the public does not foot all of the bill for damage, reimbursement from the state comes from a fund that is mainly tax dollars. The state’s self-insurance for the Department of Public Safety is paid for from the state general fund that is 94 percent personal tax dollars and 6 percent from corporate income taxes.
MAKE OF THE CAR AFFECTS DAMAGE COSTS
Nine of every 10 Iowa State Patrol vehicles are Dodge Chargers, which cost more than $23,000 apiece and are equipped with thousands of dollars of hardware to make it fit for service, Pierce said. Dodge Chargers are a sedan-style car that ride low to the ground, making them susceptible to damage.
“The thing with the Dodge Charger, it runs low in the front end,” Pierce said. “If you sneeze on the front end of a Dodge Charger, you’ll cause at least $1,500 of damage.”
Pierce said he likes the Dodge Charger and it’s a good car, but incidents like accidents involving raccoons cost more than when the now-discontinued Ford Crown Victoria was the Patrol’s vehicle of choice. This is evident in a $3,005 repair for an accident involving a raccoon on Jan. 30, 2017, an Executive Council of Iowa document showed.
The vehicle’s low profile can lead to protective skid plates being ripped from the undercarriage of the vehicles when crossing medians and other common issues, Pierce said.
How much more damage reported in recent years than when the Ford Crown Victoria was still in use by Iowa State Patrol was not evident in available records. Records were not computerized before 2014, Pierce said.
More incidents were reported in 2017 and 2018, plus the average cost per incident was $1,101 higher than it was in the two-year period of 2014 and 2015, an analysis of information Pierce provided showed.
While the cost of vehicles increases over time, the annual average for total damages was $684,500 for 2017 and 2018, which is $289,238 higher than the average annual cost in 2014 and 2015, the analysis showed.
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This story also was published by The Gazette (Cedar Rapids, IA) and the Centerville Daily Ioweigan under IowaWatch’s mission of sharing stories with media partners.
