After kicking around the topic since last year, Riverside officials have laid to rest the idea of repainting some of its unmarked police cars as black-and-whites.

The idea was discussed at meetings after City Councilman Mike Soubirous, a retired California Highway Patrol officer, questioned why city police have more unmarked cars than marked vehicles. Of the police department’s 345-vehicle fleet, 124 cars are marked, 195 are unmarked, and others are specialized vehicles.

But Police Chief Sergio Diaz has disputed the suggestion that putting more marked cruisers on the street would by itself affect crime. He estimated it would cost $2.6 million to convert unmarked cars to marked ones.

“Simply essentially driving a decoy car through an area has no effect,” Diaz told the council Tuesday, April 19, referring to a list of studies he said back him up.

The council seemed to agree, taking no action on Diaz’s report, which defended the current vehicle ratio and said that unmarked vehicles have helped catch suspects in 30 cases over the past four months.

“We believe based on our experience and research that unmarked cars are an essential tool in fighting crime,” Diaz said.

Soubirous had also questioned the number of police cars that officers are allowed to drive home, though city policy doesn’t allow personal use. Diaz said the take-home car policy is part of negotiated labor agreements that the council could seek to change in a future contract.

For now, a majority of the council doesn’t seem inclined to request changes to the way police manage their vehicles.

“I don’t see a need to handcuff our police department,” said Councilman Jim Perry, a retired police officer. “It’s an operations issue and not a policy issue.”

But Soubirous said Thursday, April 21, that with the city facing deficits the next two fiscal years, it may not be a dead issue if there’s money to be saved with a different policy.

While he doesn’t intend to micromanage the police department, Soubirous said, he disagrees with the opinion of some former city officials that the council shouldn’t have input on how it operates.

“All this is is asking questions that I think some are afraid to ask,” he said.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9461 or arobinson@pe.com