No Big Brother treatment for GP fleet

Should Big Brother be watching Bermuda’s government vehicles?

It’s a legitimate question to ask after the Spending and Government Efficiency (SAGE) Commission’s Report stated that government vehicles have often been seen in supermarket parking lots, gyms and golf courses, which suggests that government employees were not using the vehicles for government work. The report recommended the head of civil service should review the use of government cars and to whom such vehicles are assigned, with a view to reducing their number. 

This review, according to the report, should include the use of government cars by senior officers in the police, prison, fire, regiment and customs services.

In recent years, more and more governments around the world have used GPS devices to track the use and location of their vehicles. 

The Bermudian government, however, says it has no plans to install such tracking devices.  Such a move would cost too much, according to a government spokeswoman, and would prove to be unnecessary since the “use of GP vehicles is being managed more effectively by the respective departments.”  

Currently, there are 103 government vehicles on the road.

“It would be cost prohibitive to outfit the fleet of vehicles in light of the (government’s) current economic challenges,” said government spokeswoman Helen Jardine through an e-mail.

In North America,  however, such devices are often credited for cutting operational costs and improving fuel efficiency of large fleets. The tracking devices have exposed several high profile instances of public sector malfeasance in recent years.

Last January in Hamilton, Ontario, the city fired 29 municipal road workers who were using their vehicles for personal errands and lounging at cafes and bars when they were supposed to be filling in potholes. The investigation that lead to the firing involved both video cameras and access to GPS tracking devices. 

In Houston, Texas last year, GPS trackers frequently found employees’ running personal errands, lounging in parks or taking long lunches. A raft of well-publicized and high ranking firings followed that investigation.

Last year in Tucson, Arizona, the city government installed GPS tracking devices in its vehicles after an investigation revealed city workers using city equipment for private jobs, which they would they would perform while clocked in on the taxpayer’s dime.