The Ypsilanti Courier
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Officials looking at policing options
Six townships, City explore policing options for area
By Dan DuChene, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: October 26, 2006
The City of Ypsilanti and six townships have partnered up to investigate the possibility of creating a regional policing force.
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Representatives from Ann Arbor, Augusta, Northfield, Salem, Superior and York townships, along with the City of Ypsilanti met last Thursday to discuss what steps to take with the idea of a regional policing force in those areas.
"It's moving forward in a logical progression," said Bill McFarlane, the Superior Township supervisor, after the meeting. "We're moving forward with at least an agreement to investigate."
The group decided to request interest from companies to conduct a feasibility study of the regional policing idea. McFarlane said the group will meet again in January to review the RFI and possibly put out a request for proposals.
"It is going to take a long, long time to go through this process," McFarlane said.
The governments started meeting after a blue ribbon committee in Superior Township recommended looking into the idea of a regional policing force.
"There is an active regional police department, it is the sheriff's department," said Commander Dave Egeler, of the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department.
Egeler said the department encourages communities to explore all the options available.
"The best value that exists for a regional police department is the sheriff's department," Egeler said.
McFarlane said Superior Township contracts nine sheriff's deputies for police protection.
"There's issues with the cost of a deputy," McFarlane said. "It's increasing every year."
Two of the townships involved in the study, Salem and Augusta, filed a lawsuit against Washtenaw County in January because of rising costs.
"We need to be in partnership with somebody," said Superior Township resident Stanley Stewart. "We can't afford to do it on our own."
Stewart is the co-chair of the Superior Township Blue Ribbon Committee, which has 10 members. He said the committee discussed alternatives to contracting with the sheriff's department. Stewart said the committee recommended the idea of studying the possibility of creating a regional police force because the cost of setting up their own police force would be too great.
"It gets really expensive," Stewart said of establishing a Superior Township police department. "The smaller you are, the greater the unit cost."
The committee heard presentations from both the Northfield Township and Ypsilanti police departments. Ypsilanti gave a presentation about community policing, Northfield Township gave a presentation about the costs.
"I personally believe there would be several advantages to a regional authority," said Matt Harshberger, Ypsilanti's chief of police. "You can pull resources. There are costs you can save."
Ed Koryzno, Ypsilanti's city manager, said the city could potentially save costs in equipment. He said a regional policing authority could also lead to a regional dispatch, which would benefit the city financially, and also add to the policing quality in the area.
"Crime doesn't recognize boundaries," Koryzno said. "The policing services don't necessarily cross those borders."
It has not been finalized how the regional authority would be structured.
"We're at the early exploration stages right now," Koryzno said. "Those are the kinds of questions we need to have answered."
Both Harshberger and McFarlane discussed setting up a regional board to supervise the regional police department.
"Each community would appoint someone, at least that's what I envision," McFarlane said. "It's not up to me, this is a group effort."
"There's operational issues with the sheriff's department that I can't seem to get resolved," McFarlane said. "It's his department and he chooses how to operate his department."
Bill Manty, a trustee on the Augusta Township Board of Trustees said it's too soon to say how the new organization would be structured.
"This is a long ways off," Manty said. 'We're going to pool our ideas, our questions, our resources."
McFarlane said the purpose of the communities coming together is to explore one option.
"After all is said and done, we may choose to stay with the sheriff's department," McFarlane said. "We're not giving up on the sheriff's department at this point."
Ypsilanti Township, which contracts 44 deputies, and is one of the townships suing the county, decided not to participate in the study.
"Our township decided to opt out," said David Ostrowski, a trustee on Ypsilanti Township's Board of Trustees. "There's other police studies conducted. The same findings would be repeated."
Ostrowski said Ypsilanti Township formed a Police Internal Workgroup in April, which consisted of six members. He said the members collected existing studies an researched their findings.
Even though Ypsilanti Township opted out of the study, McFarlane said the Township could still be involved with a regional police authority if it is ever formed.
"We're not going to shut the door on them," McFarlane said. "I'd like to keep the doors open, to some extent."
Ostrowski said if the township were to receive an invitation to participate after the study is complete, Ypsilanti Township may decide to get involved.
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