Coon Rapids gas station owners weigh in on prepay

Updated: January 21, 2012 - 11:14 PM

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The Coon Rapids City Council will meet in work session Tuesday to hear solutions solicited from gas station owners on ways to prevent fuel theft.

Last month, the council delayed a vote on an ordinance requiring all customers to prepay for gas -- at the pump or inside the station -- as a way to prevent costly and difficult-to-prosecute thefts. No other Minnesota city requires prepayment at the pump, though many individual stations do.

Coon Rapids is not the only place where thieves steal gas, of course. But according to Police Chief Brad Wise, there were 492 reports of fuel theft in the city in 2010; fewer than 2 percent of those resulted in arrests. By contrast, 74 percent of shoplifting reports resulted in arrests. Prevention of those thefts would allow police officers to focus on other priorities.

Depending upon what council members hear, they could ask city staff to investigate those alternatives, or they could ask for the ordinance to be put back on the council agenda for a vote.