Cities flirt with doing without cops
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 at 2:02 pm
- 7 Comments
Akeley is the latest Minnesota city to consider going without its own police in response to declining local-government aid (LGA) and, in some cases, population.
Akeley would join a growing club that now includes Remer, Longville and Hackensack, among others. Hoyt Lakes and Aurora might combine their police forces. Wyoming is downsizing its force by switching to uninsured part-timers.
The move would leave public safety for Akeley residents in the hands of an already-stretched county, the Detroit Lakes Tribune reports:
Hubbard County Sheriff Frank Homer, contacted after the meeting, said per statute, the sheriff’s department must provide coverage if the department disbands.
But no personnel would be added in the sheriff’s office, he said, noting the department covers roughly 1,000 square miles.
“We’re stretched to the limit now,” Homer said. “With another municipality, we’d be really stretched. We’d do it. We’re obligated. But you may not see the same response time.”
Akeley’s police chief was understandably miffed:
“How long has this been in discussion?” police chief Eric Klein asked.
“We’ve talked about this,” Cliff Johnson told him. After the meeting, Johnson said the subject has been proposed on several occasions prior to this; Klein is aware the city is considering the measure, he said.
“How long are we talking?” Klein asked, ostensibly questioning when the position would be terminated. “This affects my wife and four kids. I’ve cut everything. If I could turn back the clock, I would,” he said, referring to relocating to Akeley.
[Via Don Reeder]
7 Comments
Comment posted October 20, 2009 @ 4:18 pm
The information from this story was usurped without permission or attribution from the Park Rapids Enterprise. It is an unethical breach of journalistic standards.
Comment posted October 20, 2009 @ 5:07 pm
Ms. Smith,
As I just emailed to you and your editor, the first word of this post is hyperlinked to the story where Chris Steller found a piece of this news, the Detroit Lakes paper, which credits your paper as the source for the story and, like your paper, is owned by Forum Communications. Hyperlinking is a standard and widely accepted form of attribution in online news and in no way represents “usurping” of your story or an “unethical breach of journalistic standards” on our part. (It’s how he credited the Mesabi Daily News and Forest Lake Times for other facts in this piece.)
In retrospect, it would be technically more accurate to link to the Park Rapids Enterprise instead of another Forum-owned paper that syndicated the piece, but I fail to see how publicly (and incorrectly) berating our site’s ethics will help you achieve that goal.
Comment posted October 20, 2009 @ 7:42 pm
Gee, maybe determining if there is a NEED is step one in determining correct staffing levels for law enforcement? They have so little to do, it seems, that they have to form multi-jurisdictional “task forces” to drum up things to occupy themselves with. I hope the miffed Chief contacts Tim Pawlenty to voice his displeasure.
Pingback posted October 21, 2009 @ 8:02 am
[...] to balance his budget. But in a shocking twist, it turns out that LGA actually pays for things. Things like a police force: Akeley is the latest Minnesota city to consider going without its own police in response to [...]
Comment posted October 21, 2009 @ 9:35 am
Everyone would like lower taxes. Most everyone would like the local government to be able to afford things like police, fire, roads, snow plowing, and maybe a city clerk. Here’s a news flash. You don’t get more than you pay for.
Comment posted October 21, 2009 @ 2:32 pm
Great! Please invite all the crooks and thieves to come up north. That’s wonderful. GREAT journalism!
Comment posted October 21, 2009 @ 4:01 pm
So, did Park Rapids just get the internet for the first time? Ha.
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