Sturtevant Will Keep its Local Police Department
Racine County village of about 7,000 considered outsourcing its policing.
Matty Ring (CC-BY)
Sturtevant will keep its local police department for now.
The Sturtevant Village Board recently considered disbanding its police department and outsourcing law enforcement services to the Racine County Sheriff’s Office or to the village of Mount Pleasant Police Department.
But during a meeting Tuesday, village trustee Kari Villalpando said the board has decided to “move forward with the enhancement of our own department rather than outsourcing for policing services.”
“We believe that there are areas that we can work within our department and across all areas of village spending in order to improve our costs in the future,” Villalpando said.
Brent McCoy, president of the Sturtevant Professional Police Association, said officers of the department were encouraged by the decision. But he said they are still concerned about the future of the department.
“There’s also the worry that this may come up again, that this might not be a done deal within the next couple of months, or even couple (of) years,” McCoy said.
Village officials began looking at outsourcing police services a few months ago as a way to save money. In a statement, trustee Jason Ingle said disbanding the department could save the village around $3.5 million over the next five years.
“It’s a proactive step that prevents future tax hikes while maintaining our high standards for safety and service,” Ingle wrote.
However, some in the Racine County village of about 7,000 spoke out against the idea.
“We believe eliminating our police force would greatly increase response time and endanger the safety of our community,” one resident wrote in an email that was included in a village feasibility study.
“The village has the small town feel and a big reason for that is the incredible job the police do,” another resident wrote in an email. “The officers are the face of the community and do a fantastic job keeping us safe. To outsource would be a huge mistake and reason to consider relocating.”
The feasibility study from Interim Village Administrator Jack Feiner said Sturtevant has a “strong and stable financial position.”
“These indicators demonstrate that Sturtevant is well-positioned to evaluate strategic changes, including police outsourcing, from a position of financial strength rather than necessity,” Feiner wrote.
Jim Palmer, the executive director of Wisconsin Professional Police Association, said the decision represents a “significant victory” for the officers and for the community. Palmer said the local officers know the community best.
“That’s a hard thing to replace when you contract with an outside agency,” Palmer said.
However, the village board could still move to disband the police department down the road.
The department currently has an interim police chief. A candidate for the police chief job, who Ingle said was recommended by the village’s police commission, withdrew his name from the running on Tuesday.
Ingle said he would likely not support outsourcing police services if the commission has another “strong” candidate for the police chief job.
“If they (police commission) come back and the candidate (is) weaker, then we would probably consider one of the contracts (to outsource),” Ingle said.
Staffing shortage could be a future concern
A PBS Newshour report found some smaller towns and villages across the nation have had success with contracting with the county for law enforcement services. That comes as many police departments are struggling to recruit and retain officers.
In an email included in the feasibility study, village of Rochester trustee Russ Kumbier said the village has been contracting with the Racine County Sheriff’s Office for a full-time deputy for over 20 years.
“They (Racine County Sheriff’s Office) have been responsive to our concerns, have allowed us to interview candidates, and they give us updates every month at one of our board meetings,” Kumbier wrote in the wmail. “All of the training, equipment, & vehicles (including gas & maintenance) are paid for and are the responsibility of the county.”
Sturtevant resident Rose Woodruff, who has lived in the village for more than 50 years, said she supports the village outsourcing police services. She said the village could benefit from having police services from a bigger law enforcement agency, like the Racine County Sheriff’s Office.
“I think this village needs to grow, and in order to grow, they need to look down the road 10 years — not like what used to be, and that requires change,” Woodruff said.
The Sturtevant Police Department is currently budgeted for 11 patrol officers but is short one officer. McCoy said the department could be short another three or four in the next few weeks, as some officers have recently applied with other departments.
McCoy said that could lead to just one officer working per shift in Sturtevant.
“So the potential is there, real quickly, to have a real staffing shortage,” McCoy said.
Village president resigned this week
Village President Stuart Ten Cate announced he was resigning effective immediately at the end Tuesday’s meeting. In an interview with WPR, Cate said there wasn’t a “joint effort” from the board on the police department issue.
“When you have three members of the board that are in support of our police department and four that are still on the fence on what they want to do, it’s very concerning,” Cate said.
Cate, who wants to keep the local police department, said he is concerned the board could soon move to outsource police services.
“I am very, very concerned about that and that potentially could happen,” Cate said.
Wisconsin village to keep local police department rather than outsource services was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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