Coordination and Cooperation by County Sheriff and Municipal Police
Law Enforcement Jurisdiction and Service
The city has a police department consisting of approximately 14 sworn officers for a city of 3200. The budget is just over $ 1,100,000. The sheriff has asked the commission to fund 21% of the county communications budget. I am reviewing the enforcement history of city ordinances and state statutes. Specifically, data is being collected as follows: (1) calls to the county dispatch center dealing with civil, criminal, and traffic specific to the city (a) response by city police, (b) response by sheriff, and (c) support provided by sheriff; (2) calls ... dealing with violation of city ordinance (a) response by city police, (b) response by sheriff, and (c) support provided by sheriff; (3) cases dealing with civil, criminal, or traffic initiated by (a) city police, (b) sheriff, and (c) state agency (highway patrol ....).. City businesses and residents pay county taxes which support the sheriff's department. In general, the working relationship between the city police and the sheriff has been very good. The commission has taken the position thus far that the sheriff (and county) benefits from the existence of the city police department and that an adequate case has not been made for the city taking responsibility for 21% of the communications budget.