Water patrol has more boats and vehicles than employees

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri State Water Patrol has more boats and vehicles than employees, raising concerns about whether the patrol has more equipment than necessary, a new state audit said.

State Auditor Claire McCaskill, in an audit released Thursday, recommended the patrol determine the number of boats and vehicles it really needs.

The patrol, which has 124 employees including 84 officers, maintains 185 boats purchased at a cost of $2 million, the audit said.

Of the patrol's 133 vehicles, eight were driven more than 15,000 miles while another 50 had less than 10,000 miles, 17 of which were driven less than 5,000 miles.

"They aren't keeping track of things. They don't have any plans," McCaskill said. "They need to document the boats, have a plan for use of the boats, and not get new boats from the Legislature if they're not going to use them."

The audit noted that the patrol bought two $33,000 boats in July 2000 that had not been used as of June 2001.

The audit also found six instances where one officer was assigned two vehicles and three boats and one instance where an officer was assigned four vehicles.

Water Patrol Col. Jerry Adams said the audit was fair.

The patrol said in a written response that it has a vast area of coverage, including 272,770 acres of lakes with 5,500 miles of shoreline.

In addition, the audit found that vehicles were assigned to patrol members who primarily performed administrative tasks. Six officers who serve as administrative staff were assigned vehicles but wrote only 43 tickets during 2000.