As police millage proposals went down to defeat by landslide proportions in last week’s election, Sheriff Anthony Wickersham expressed dismay at the election results and wondered how much longer the county can avoid an explosion of political tensions due to a situation in which most communities pay for police service, but some don’t.
“I was disappointed with the election, but in the past the supervisors in those townships wouldn’t even bring those issues to the people,” the sheriff said.
Millages to pay for Sheriff’s Department police protection were rejected in Richmond, Ray and Armada townships on Nov. 6 and by Bruce Township voters in the August primary. Those communities will continue to receive minimal law enforcement protection from the sheriff’s staff.
Meanwhile, $30 million will be paid by Macomb, Harrison, Lenox and Washington townships, the city of Mount Clemens and the village of New Haven over the next two years. Those agreements consisted of contract renewals except in New Haven, which recently became the latest Macomb municipality to embrace public safety under the sheriff’s umbrella — and to save considerable expense in the process.
The six localities, depending on the extent of the police coverage desired, man their streets with between one and four deputies for each work shift. They also receive a full complement of law enforcement services through the sheriff’s Traffic Bureau, evidence technicians, K-9 unit, detective bureau and special units that concentrate on drug trafficking and computer crimes.
The overall $30 million price tag includes a separate $1.2 million contract for the Sheriff’s Department to provide police dispatch services to Mount Clemens, which disbanded its police department several years ago during a financial crisis.
The city’s $7.2 million police contract ensures one sergeant and 16 deputies. In nearby Macomb Township, the $9.7 million contract guarantees one lieutenant, one sergeant, one dispatcher and 20 deputies to cover a geographic area that is far larger than Mount Clemens.
In contrast, the county budget cuts of 2008-09 limited Bruce, Ray, Richmond and Armada townships — an area of about 140 square miles — to one patrol car per work shift. As a result, victims of property crimes or other non-violent disturbances do not get a visit from a patrol car when they call the Sheriff’s Department. They are told to drive to Mount Clemens and fill out a report at the department’s office.
The sparse population and country atmosphere of the four townships may have affected the election results.
“Nobody wants to pay taxes but if … people have never used the services of the Sheriff’s Office, then it’s especially tough to get them to vote for this,” Wickersham said.
Meanwhile, in Lenox and Washington townships, where Sheriff’s Department contracts pay for minimal road patrols, officials are increasingly agitated when their deputy is diverted to the four-township area due to an emergency or real-time criminal activity.
In the upper tier, as complaints about the inability to get a response from a patrol car grew, the supervisors of those four townships agreed to place police millages on their 2012 ballots. They also considered forming a collaboration — a law enforcement consortium — that would be keep costs down.
The pushback from voters, with 60 to 70 percent in each township rejecting the tax plan, came after Wickersham had given nine pro-millage presentations in those northernmost communities prior to the election.
Wickersham, who was elected to a 4-year term on Nov. 6, said his pre-election pitch for increased services warned that, if the millages fail, it would be “business as usual.”
As a formality, the new public safety contracts will receive final approval from the Board of Commissioners on Nov. 20.
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