Madisonville Police Chief Gregg Breeden said he hasn't
seen too big of an increase, but there has been one.
“Before the gas prices got so high,” he said, “we were
probably getting about two reports a week of somebody
pumping gas and not paying for it. Now we're getting
around four or five a week.”

Most stations are going to a “pay before you pump”
method of business, and Breeden says that helps.
“That might be a little inconvenient for some,” he said,
“but it does help. If a station has enough gas stolen,
that's just one more thing that could raise prices.”

If you work at a gas station and catch someone stealing
gas, Breeden said the best thing to do is write down their
tag number and call the police.

“I know gas is high,” he said, “but it's not worth it to chase
somebody down when stealing gas might be the least of
their crimes. And we're glad to come out and check on
what's happened. If you can get their tag number, it's real
easy to find out where they live and find out what
happened.

“It can be an honest mistake sometimes,” Breeden added.
“I'd say half the time we respond to a stolen gas call,
when we get there the person has come back to pay the
bill, saying they got distracted and had forgotten to go in
and pay.”

And there are also surveillance cameras watching the
pumps at some stations.
“It's pretty easy to know what someone's doing when the
camera is recording their every move,” Breeden said.
Madisonville Police have also seen a recent rise in
shoplifting and purse snatching.

“I'm not enough of an economics expert to know if the
two are related,” Breeden said, “but ever since the gas
prices skyrocketed we've had an increase in shoplifting
and purse theft reports.”

The Police Department itself it not immune from the high
cost of gas. The department's budget for the past year
shows gas costs have doubled since 2004, going from
$27,000 that year to $54,000 this past year.

“That's nothing more than the cost of gas,” Breeden said.
“We haven't added any extra patrols during that time.
There's always some leeway in the budget for the cost of
gas, but these prices are making it hard to keep up.”
Madisonville officers can buy gas at any station in town.

Each officer is given a Fleet card and the usage of that
card is closely monitored, but there has never been any
abuse of the cards. Police Commissioner Bill Spradlin said
the department does get a small rebate from the Fleet
cards, but not enough to make a difference in overall cost.

michael.thomason@advocateanddemocrat.com | 442-
4575.