The in basket: A recent Road Warrior column about new signs warning of an upcoming school zone grew out of a South Kitsap drive-around on which I spotted one other oddity.

A Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office patrol car was parked, unoccupied, on the shoulder at Burley-Glenwood Elementary School. It wasn’t near any access to or from the school, but was clearly visible to traffic on the road in front.

I wondered if KCSO is deploying old patrol cars as decoys to slow drivers down.

The out basket: Deputy Scott Wilson, spokesman for the department, says, “I could find no calls for service or other events involving KCSO at Burley-Glenwood Elementary School (that day).  I queried Kitsap County Central Communications about this and received the same response.

“KCSO doesn’t conduct ‘decoy patrols,’ utilizing unoccupied patrol vehicles… we don’t have enough vehicles or the personnel to engage in tactics of this nature.

“We do, however, conduct school zone speed enforcement patrols during the academic school year, generally during morning school arrival times and afternoon school dismissal time-periods, when students are expected to be walking to and from schools.

“When conducting speed enforcement patrols, deputies typically remain with their vehicles.

“My take on this is that a sheriff’s patrol deputy, not identified, parked his patrol vehicle on the shoulder of the roadway, in front of the school, and got out of the car without notifying radio dispatch.  This could have been for any number of reasons.”

K