You may have heard of telemedicine, but have you heard of tele-police?
In one county in Michigan, that’s what some residents will be experiencing thanks to sky-high gas prices that have ripped through the fuel budget of the Isabella County Sheriff’s Office.
According to AAA, the average price for a gallon of gas in the county is $5.19, slightly below the state average of $5.21.
The department shared this week that it is “feeling the pain at the pump,” and with “several months” before its budget resets, it has “exhausted what funds were budgeted” for gas, according to the Detriot Free Press.
Nicole Frost, the county administrator, said the department has burned through 96% of its fuel budget, and there are still three and a half months left in the fiscal year.
As a result of the budgetary situation, Isabella County Sheriff Michael Main says he told deputies to address whatever 9-1-1 calls they can over the phone instead of in person.
He specified such calls include “non-in-progress calls, non-life-threatening calls, and calls that do not require evidence collection or documentation.”
ABC: Gas prices are so high that one Michigan county’s police department has “blown through their fuel budget” and will no longer respond to every 911 call in-person. pic.twitter.com/oC2o5tcCsi
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 9, 2022
Main stressed that the department “will continue to provide patrols to all areas of the county” and “will respond to those calls that need to be managed in person.”
“Any call that is in progress with active suspects will involve a response by the deputies,” he said, adding, “I want to assure the community that safety is our primary goal, and we will continue to respond to those types of calls.”
So this is where we are. Gas prices are getting so high that police are providing phone support for some calls.
Biden did not cause the spike in oil prices, that was in part a result of a surging demand as the country emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic and supply issues and was exasperated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
So far, there’s not much evidence that Biden’s policies have hampered U.S. oil production. But if anything, he’s kind of shrugged his shoulders when it comes to trying to increase domestic production.
Instead, he has actually proposed charging oil companies fees for not drilling in wells that they have leases for, and demonized the companies by suggesting they may be engaging in price gouging.
In March, then-White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki was asked why the president has not put as much effort into boosting domestic oil production as he has on other issues.
“Well, there are 9,000 approved oil leases that the oil companies are not tapping into currently. So I would ask them that question,” Psaki responded.
While the White House appears at a loss for how to convince domestic oil producers to ramp up production, Biden is reportedly considering taking a trip to Saudi Arabia next month to essentially beg them to increase their production.
A CNN article from March noted that experts say even if a company started new drilling in the U.S. today, it could take months for the supply to reach the market.
A key part of that sentence is “March.” If the administration had put the effort into getting oil companies to produce more oil months ago, instead of just suggesting that they’re greedy corporations, perhaps in just a few more months, we could have been seeing a greater oil supply and some signs of relief at the pump.
Instead, Americans will have to grapple with higher prices and struggling to get by for even longer. Meanwhile, in some parts of Michigan, they’ll been enjoying tele-police services.