Michigan soaring gas prices forces sheriff to cut response to non-urgent calls, deputies work by phone
Pain in the gas: Price for a gallon of gas passed $4 in all 50 states
Average gas prices in the U.S. reached a new record high Wednesday, according to AAA's gas price calculator. The national average cost of a regular gallon of gasoline hit $4.567 early Wednesday morning. This topped Tuesday's record of $4.523, which in turn had beat Monday's record of $4.470.
A sheriff’s department in Michigan cited soaring gas prices in an announcement Tuesday that it would be reducing its deputies’ responses to non-urgent calls for service.
Isabella County Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post that it "is feeling the pain at the pump as well."
"We have exhausted what funds were budgeted for fuel with several months to go before the budget reset," Sheriff Michael Main said in a statement.
"I have instructed the deputies to attempt to manage whatever calls are acceptable over the phone," he said. "This would be non-in-progress calls, non-life-threatening calls, calls that do not require evidence collection or documentation."
"Deputies will continue to provide patrols to all areas of the county, they will respond to those calls that need to be managed in person," Main continued. "Any call that is in progress with active suspects will involve a response by the deputies. I want to assure the community that safety is our primary goal, and we will continue to respond to those types of calls."
Isabella County is located in central Michigan and includes the city of Mount Pleasant.
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The American Automobile Association (AAA) said Wednesday that the average price of gas across Michigan is $5.21, representing a 51-cent increase from last week’s average of $4.70 per gallon.