Everyone is feeling the pinch at the pump right now, and police are no different.

As part of their job descriptions, officers spending hours on patrol eat up a lot of petroleum.

So when calls go out this summer, more often than not, Morrisville Officer C.L. Gill is taking off on a motorcycle instead of in a patrol car.

"I've always been an enthusiast of motorcycles, and I love doing police work," said Gill. "And I get to do both things at one time."

"We have motor officers that love it and would ride 365 days a year if we allowed them," said Chief Ira Jones.

He isn't just trying to make a few of his officers happy, though. It's simply because motorcycles are a lot cheaper to run.

"There's no comparison," said Jones. "[With a] motorcycle, you can fill the tank up probably now with $6 to $8 compared to a car. I just don't even want to say how much it would cost to fill that car up."

Morrisville's Police Department buys gas in bulk from the town of Cary, so they're not paying quite as much as everyone else, but those prices are going up, too.

Despite rising prices, the department's fuel budget is staying the same for fiscal year 2009: $94,000.

To combat that, motorcycles aren't the only two-wheel vehicles being employed by the Morrisville PD; there are also two officers who ride bicycles on occasion.

"Bike officers get paid to exercise," said Jones.

Of course no police department can function without any patrol cars, so Morrisville is doing what it can to save money there, too.

"When they respond to a scene, turn the car off, keep the air conditioning off," said Jones. "Check the tire pressure. Things like that. Check the trunk of the vehicle that there aren't excessive items in the trunk."

If everyone sticks to the plan, and prices don't get too out of control, Chief Jones says they should be able to keep within their budget.