With the average gallon of gas well over $1 more than it cost a driver a year ago, one might assume the urge to fill up and drive off might have risen just as sharply. Perhaps, but the actual act has not, according to statistics requested by the Times-Union from the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department. Kosciusko County has had 71 reported drive-offs so far this year, according to the report. That number is right on pace to mirror last year’s 155 total reported drive-offs, statistics show. It seems it’s anyone’s guess as to why the numbers are so similar despite the average gallon of Indiana gasoline climbing from about $2.70 to $4.06 in a year, but nobody’s complaining. “I thought they might be higher,” said Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Chad Hill of the figures. “Realistically, I think most people have looked up while they pump gas and considered it. There’s always the chance they can get away, but the chances are slim.” Hill said that the advances - and quantities - in technology have gone a long way toward limiting the temptation of gassing-and-going. He estimates that 85 to 90 percent of gas stations in the county have high-resolution video cameras rolling at their pumps and decals advertising it, and the knowledge of being video taped might work to curb the interest. For how long, though? Hill said that if gas prices continue to climb as steadily as an unemployment line, there’s just no telling. “Times are tough, and if they continue to be, and if we have this slide and double-dip in the recession, there’s a potential people are going to have to decide between food and gas to get to work,” Hill said. “That potential is there. If prices would happen to creep higher, people might take a risk.”
