It has only been a few years since the Port St. Lucie (FL) Police Department was recognized as one of the nation's top 100 fleets, but Police Administrator Bill May and Fleet Manager Roberto Mann have not stopped searching for new ways to step up performance while upholding ever-higher standards for efficiency and emissions.
The department, serving Florida's ninth largest city, recently completed a 90-day pilot program testing the effectiveness of Derive Efficiency's ( derivesystems.com/efficiency/solutions/ ) optimized engine calibration on a portion of their fleet. Since implementation, vehicles in the pilot group have seen an almost 12 percent reduction in idle fuel consumption as well as a more than 11 percent decrease in total spending on fuel. These savings will allow Police John Chief Bolduc, who oversees a $34 million budget, 285 police personnel and 343 volunteers, to allocate more funds to other key needs.