Gas Too Expensive: Isabella Co Sheriffs Dept Can't Afford Calls

What would you do if you called 911 and they said "Sorry, we can't help. Gas is too expensive so we have to stay here."?

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Most of us assume that this is an impossible scenario, but for residents in Isabella County Michigan, this is an extremely real scenario they are currently facing.

The Isabella County Sheriff's department has announced via a post on their Facebook page that they have 'exhausted all gas funds for the year' and they will be handling some calls via phone instead of sending a deputy over.

Isabella Co. Sheriffs Department on Facebook

The post reads:

Isabella County Sheriff’s Office 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.

I have instructed the deputies to attempt to manage whatever calls are acceptable over the phone. 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. 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.

And while obviously a few residents left concerned comments:

Isabella Co. Sheriffs Department on Facebook

Others tried to make light of the situation with some light hearted jokes about how to get gas money when you're broke.

Isabella Co. Sheriffs Department on Facebook

According to the 2020 census, Isabella County is home to 64,000+ residents and the city of Mt. Pleasant, so it's not like they can entirely abandon answering calls.

But realistically, what happens if they entirely run out of gas. Do deputies have to pay their own gas bills? Will they just entirely stop taking calls? Does the state of Michigan step in to help? It's unclear at this time, but here's hoping someone holds a bake sale or something to help keep the residents of Isabella County safe.

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