Lessons from the field

Last updated October 6, 2026

What I learned about fleet maintenance as a chief, and what changed when officers started reporting problems.

These are experiences from one department that uses Shift Ready, described without names, dates, or unit numbers.

As a chief, budget and liability are two of the biggest threats I deal with inside the department. The police fleet touches both.

One surprise when I became chief: many small cities have no fleet department and no program to maintain the fleet. That responsibility lands on the chief. A chief has to understand vehicle maintenance and repair to prevent liability and stay within budget, and with budgets already tight, there is little room for error.

I’ll be upfront. There are many great products for investigations, patrol, and special operations, and most don’t fit a small department’s budget. I designed Shift Ready to be affordable for every department, starting at $300 a year for a fleet of 10 vehicles.

What gets missed

The hardest part was getting problems reported. Over the years, I found problems on patrol vehicles that never reached me: a dash warning light, worn tires. These weren’t bad officers or bad supervisors. We all wear a lot of hats, and things get forgotten. Officers often assume a problem will go away, or that someone else has already reported it. A supervisor who does hear about it can get pulled away before passing it along.

Pre-shift checks are also easy to rush. I built Shift Ready to be quick enough that officers don’t feel it as extra work.

What changed

After we started using it, I found that officers liked finding and reporting problems. They know the responsibility then moves to the supervisor to get it fixed. An unexpected benefit: officers seemed to trust the administration more and feel cared for.

• When I was rolling it out, an officer asked whether the dispatch radio speaker could finally be repaired. It had been a problem for a long time. It was fixed the next day.
• A PA microphone that wasn’t working in one unit was flagged and sent for repair.
• A lit anti-lock brake warning was reported, and the vehicle went to the shop.

When these problems surfaced, we asked why they hadn’t been reported. Maybe they had. To the officer, that doesn’t matter. What matters is that it gets repaired.

Why it matters

A patrol car is our office. We spend many hours a day in it, and no one wants to work in a car with problems. Even when we push to keep vehicles running well, things fall through. Since we started using Shift Ready, we have seen improvements in repairs and maintenance, and I believe it can help your department too.

Want to see how it works with your fleet? Request a demo.