Here's at least one good effect of high gas prices:
With gasoline climbing toward $4 a gallon, police officers around the country are losing the right to take their patrol cars home and are being forced to double up in cruisers and walk the beat more.
The gas crunch could also put an end to the time-honored way cops leave their engines running when they get out to investigate something.
Some police chiefs think the moneysaving measures are not all bad, and might actually help them do a better job.
Cop on the hoof beats cop in the car for cop getting to know the neighborood and letting the residents get to know the cop. Take-home cars, I dunno. They say their presence in neighborhoods deters crime, but only if the officer lives in hihg-crime neighborhoods, and I don't think most of them do.