By Jonathan Gneiser, Central Wisconsin Sunday
(Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune - Wisconsin Rapids, Wisc.)
Crime isn’t disappearing.
But the dollars to fund protective services are.
With community members’ safety on the line, local police departments say they won’t let cutbacks in federal and state funding for training, equipment and new officers stop them from doing their jobs.
It may change the way they do business, but not the protection they provide.
“With shared revenue and all those cuts, you have to get creative and share services,” said Medford Police Chief Ted Bever. “We share a dispatch center. We share a building. Here we work hand in hand.”
The Taylor County Sheriff’s Department, Medford Police Department and their shared dispatch center are all located in the same building.
Medford Police also share the cost of some services with the county and school district, including a DARE officer, school liaison officer and drug and juvenile investigation officers.
Medford started its school liaison program with Community Oriented Policing Services funding, Bever said. The federal government provided the officer’s salary for three years, and then the city and school district split the costs.
President Bush has proposed cutting COPS funding from $756 million to $44 million for 2005, so communities that have not yet taken advantage of the funding are much less likely to obtain funding for new officers.
Grants for reimbursement for drug investigations remain available for Medford, Bever said.
Kevin Doberstein of Medford said he’s concerned about how much the government has spent to send troops to Iraq while cutting services at home.
“Our taxes never went down. Everything stays the same, but we’re getting our services cut,” he said. “That’s the biggest concern.”
The Wisconsin Legislature is currently considering a bill that allows cities or villages to abolish their police departments and contract for law enforcement services with the county.
Consolidation is more likely to affect communities with one-man police departments, Bever said.
Marshfield Police Chief Joe Stroik said it’s unlikely there’d be a cost savings for larger cities to contracting for law enforcement services.
Even if it saves money, Stroik said the sacrifice in service must be considered.
“I don’t envision that to become an issue here,” he said.
Marshfield has supplemented its budget by utilizing state and federal grant programs for seat belt enforcement and drug investigation, Stroik said.
“Our budget has been, along with other city budgets, held to a minimal increase as per Common Council guidelines,” he said. “We’ve had to do more with less, but it has not had a significant impact on the way we’re doing business.”
Stratford Police Chief Korey Schillinger said he doesn’t believe the community would support abolishing the department, which has one full-time officer and have four part-time officers.
“I think when you live within your community, you know the people better,” he said. “You’re response time is going to be a minute or less. County -who knows.”
Federal funds allowed Stratford Police to buy bulletproof vests, Schillinger said. However, the department will miss the reimbursement it had received in the past from the state for officer training.
Stevens Point Police Capt. Jim Dowling said he expects to see more joining of services between cities and counties due to budget cuts.
Dowling said there was an effort for Stevens Point to create a joint municipal area police department with Plover, but it didn’t progress beyond initial stages.
A city-county joint dispatch has also been discussed, but Dowling said it’s not practical at this time.
The dispatch centers already share access to radio frequencies, phone systems and computer systems, but they have two separate locations - which has the benefit of producing a backup, Dowling said.
Because Stevens Point’s crime rate is too low to qualify, it’s is no longer eligible for Local Law Enforcement Block Grants, which gave them money for strategic planning, Dowling said. Bush proposes to cut the grant program by 40 percent.
Stevens Point has continued to pursue homeland security funding for inter-operability of radios and in car computer systems, Dowling said.