New van will stretch sheriff's fuel budget

BENTON -- The latest purchase by the Scott County Sheriff's Department should help stretch the department's fuel budget.

Sheriff Rick Walter said the new 15-passenger prisoner transport van gets 16-17 miles per gallon as compared with the 20 mpg his patrol cars get. But now six or seven prisoners can be transported at a time instead of only two or three.

The van has already been used twice, according to Walter -- once to transport five prisoners to the Missouri Department of Corrections and the other to take seven to the DOC.

The DOC intake drop off is at Bonne Terre, Walter said, which is 101 miles away from the Scott County Jail.

He said the decision to purchase the van was made due to the high gasoline prices but the best part is that it was bought without using taxpayer money.

"That was something we bought from the Sheriff's Special Fund," Walter said. "That's money we make by serving civil process papers."

He said in addition to putting bars in the van's windows, he plans to have two cage barriers installed: one between the driver and the passengers, and the second to separate male prisoners from female prisoners.

"I hope to get that done locally," Walter said.