Village and Township residents sound off about police coverage

Early morning meeting held to discuss contract issues

 

ALMONT — Village and township residents have been busy sharing their views and opinions regarding police coverage for both entities.

The two sides have an expiring contract and are working to hammer out details for a new agreement.

However, the terms have become an issue. The village is asking for over $800,000 annually while township officials feel the amount is not appropriate.

Social media lit up last week, when word spread of the on-going debate on police coverage to the township.

Below are a few of the comments (names withheld to protect privacy). Some comments have been edited for length.

One concerned writer stated, “Come on, Almont Township! Do better! Our township is worth the little bit extra to have our OWN village police patrol our area 24/7! Not only do they know it the best, they are also so much closer than the Sheriff’s Department. Also, our kids deserve a School Resource Officer, SRO Retzler, to be there every day to make connections with students, parents and staff.

Another wrote, “Almont Township is reportedly looking to end law enforcement with the Almont Police Department and contract with the Lapeer County Sheriff’s office. While this may seem like a good decision from a fiscal standpoint, it is a horrible decision in my opinion for Almont and its’ residents.

While I currently do not live in Almont any longer, I still care very much for the community in which my children spent most of their early years and one still currently works.

In a small town like Almont (township and village) having a local department is a blessing as it provides officers who become familiar with the area, the residents, and actively interact with their community. It also provides lower than average response times as the officers are actively only serving the community of Almont. It has also been shared that part of the budget saving would be removing the school resource officer position, which has been a major blessing to the community.

As I said, I no longer live in the community so this does not affect me or my family, but I have and will always look out for this community.

Yet another chimed in, saying, “Our school officer is paid thru Lapeer County. Almont is given $110,000 to pay for our liaison (who is awesome). IF…IF the township decides to go with the sheriff it would be the village’s choice to let him go…even though they benefit financially by having him. Even IF they let him go….he would just go to Lapeer…apply and have a different uniform…but he wouldn’t loose his job at the school…and more importantly, our kids wouldn’t loose him! Its a hard decision.”

Another shared, “Once you lose your police department you never get it back. The sheriffs office always comes in at a lower price and increases as time goes on. This would be such a terrible choice for our village/township, not to mention the loss of our school officer. We have wonderful officers in this town.

Another citizen felt, “If you haven’t heard, the township is trying to contract with the sheriffs department to save money on police coverage. The money they’re gonna save would be by taking the police officer out of the schools, and it would stop having seven day a week/24 hour coverage in the township.

We all need to stand together to keep this from happening. Our children’s safety is more important than saving a few dollars and we need to make sure at the next election to put some people in office that care more about the area and our children!”

And finally, one shared, “For decades, village taxpayers have subsidized police services for township residents. We accepted that as part of being one community. Under the current contract, Almont Township pays $650,000 per year for dedicated police service. The village covers the rest, meaning village taxpayers pay more than half the cost of a police department that spends the majority of its time serving township residents.”

The village and township have been mismanaged for decades. It’s been painfully obvious.

Proof in the LTE (Letter to the Editor) on the village side just by that quote. Dyke has been on Village Council for 3 decades…. and now it’s all of a sudden a budget issue? ??

It wasn’t for community spirit, the new village manager actually did his job and pointed out some of the horrible work previous managers did with zero accountability or follow-through by council.

If I were a village resident who pays village and township taxes I’d be PISSED that I’ve been over taxed for “decades” subsidizing the township. As a township resident I have zero issue paying more for proper police services.

Heck, we just saved over $1,000 a year in taxes that ACS will never get back in bond dollars. The least we can do is spend some of the $$ to protect our kids.”

An early morning meeting was called at 9 a.m. Tuesday by the township, to discuss police coverage and how to proceed.

Many who work were not happy about the timing of the meeting and being unable to attend.

The Tri-City Times will have more on this in next week’s issue.