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On an average day, Mitchell police officers put 160 miles on the city's squad cars.
Each month, emergency medical personnel make an average of 25 runs to Sioux Falls and other outlying communities.
Meanwhile, gas prices have reached $3 at local stations.
Due to increasing fuel prices, divisions within the Department of Public Safety have continuously paid more since 2004 for typical transportation expenses and those rising costs have prompted Chief of Public Safety Lyndon Overweg to this year seek a 50 percent raise in the police division's budget for fuel, oil and tires.
For a full version of this story, see Saturday's print edition.
