Penobscot County deputies have a name for it when problems with patrol cars require alternate arrangements.

Two accidents and a blown head gasket are the most recent reason the Sheriff’s Department is playing what has come to be known as “the Chevy shuffle.”

Three of the 23 vehicles the department owns for patrol, investigation, civil-process and related duties have been out of commission for at least two weeks. Because cars are assigned to specific officers — rather than drawn from a pool, for example — alternate arrangements have become an exercise in creative scheduling.

Such shortages are nothing new. At any county commissioners’ meeting, the subject of repairs to Sheriff’s Department vehicles might come up, and it’s not unheard of for the agency to be down two or more cars. The current shortage came about through separate incidents over the past three weeks:

A civil-process server, James Dolan, suffered a blackout while driving his car and crashed on Court Street, Bangor. He is being treated for the medical condition, and damage to the car’s frame and fender is being repaired. The officer and the car remain off the road.

Deputy Daryl Whitley rolled over his cruiser two weeks ago while on patrol on Pine Tree Road, Levant. For an unexplained reason, he glanced in his rear-view mirror at the taillights of a car that had just passed him in the opposite direction, and came upon a sudden curve. He tried to correct, but went into a soft shoulder and rolled over. He was not injured, and the car reportedly received only body damage. A decision on disciplinary action is pending.

The third vehicle, a patrol car, developed mechanical problems while Whitley was using it on a drug-eradication assignment. The car, which has been assigned to Hermon’s contract deputy, Douglas Poor, shows 145,000 miles on the odometer and was due for replacement early next year anyway. On Tuesday, the commissioners approved spending $14,000 on its successor, a few months ahead of schedule. Poor and the new car are being reassigned to rural patrol, and the new deputy for Hermon will take the cruiser he has been using elsewhere.

Most of the bill for the repairs of the cars is being picked up by insurance.

The loss of the use of the patrol cars has a greater impact than the loss of the civil-process vehicle, especially since its operator, Dolan, is still out of work. Part-timers have been handling his duties, and the car, which is still in the shop, is not needed right now.

“We miss Jim more than we miss the vehicle,” said Lt. Keith Hotaling, who is in charge of the department’s vehicles.

The shuffle has meant that some patrol cars are doing double duty. Deputies have their own assigned cars, he said, because it is more efficient to allow them to keep the cars at their homes, flung throughout the far reaches of the county, instead of requiring them to drive to Bangor every day to pick up a car.

But the shortage of two cars in the county’s southern patrol district — south of the Alton-Old Town area — meant pulling one car out of the northern district. Consequently, officers assigned to cover certain areas in shifts have had to share vehicles. The shuffle comes when they have to meet somewhere to swap cars at shift change.

Hotaling didn’t know Tuesday exactly when the shortage would end, but it could last a week or so while the department waits for the replacement car and repairs.