Doofus Of The Day #273

Today's award goes to the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department in California.

A new and expensive mobile law enforcement command center that officials say is critical to emergency response in San Joaquin County is illegal to drive on California roadways, forcing officials to spend more taxpayer dollars to correct the problem.

The San Joaquin County Sheriff's Department said the $500,000 vehicle is designed to coordinate emergency responses in natural disasters and fast-paced criminal investigations, but it cannot be used because it is too heavy.

The two-axle vehicle weighs about 2,060 pounds too much under California law, and the manufacturer will have to add another axle to hold up the weight and make it street-legal.

The vehicle was built in Ohio, where it is legal to drive on roadways, and was in use for about six months on local roadways until the Sheriff's office discovered the problem.

"Without the fix, we wouldn't be able to use the vehicle legally on California roadways," said Lt. John Williams of the San Joaquin Sheriff's Department.

There's more at the link.

Ah, yes. That would be rather embarrassing . . . to roll up to the scene of a disaster, only to have your command vehicle ticketed by other responding officers! One might even suspect that evil-minded mean-spirited officers from other agencies, which lack such spiffy command vehicles of their own, might take a certain malicious delight in doing so!



Peter