In seven of Washtenaw County's most rural townships, dialing 911 beginning Tuesday might simply mean seeing a blue patrol car show up instead of a white one.
But how contract policing affects law enforcement in 18 townships and two villages won't be known for months because it's new territory for the Washtenaw County Sheriff's Department and Michigan State Police Ypsilanti Post.
Take one recent call for service, involving a 3-year-old boy who wandered away from his rural Manchester Township home. Four Washtenaw County Sheriff's deputies, a sergeant and police tracking dog responded to the mother's call for help. They sealed off the road and searched until a neighbor found the diaper-clad toddler in his driveway and brought him home.
That same call could be played out quite differently after Tuesday when the Sheriff's Department ends its general countywide road patrols and switches to contract policing. Manchester Township and six other townships have opted to rely solely on state troopers rather than pay the Sheriff's Department for police protection.
State Police Lt. Beth Moranty has pledged to make the transition as smooth as possible and says her agency has enough resources to handle such an incident.
Still, Sheriff Daniel Minzey worries that state troopers will be taxed with triple the call volume and will be unable to handle the increased workload since no additional troopers have been assigned to the post.
"If I was in the shoes of the State Police, I would have no idea how to handle the calls and deliver quality service," Minzey said. "They were not meant to be a primary police agency."
The pay-for-policing program generated controversy for more than a year and received final approval from the Washtenaw County Board of Trustees under former Sheriff Ron Schebil in November 2000. Under the cost-cutting measure, the county will no longer provide road patrol out of the general fund. Instead, the county will now charge townships and villages $78,333 for each contract deputy, while subsidizing $40,353 with county money.
The total $118,686 cost per "police service unit" includes salary and fringe benefits, overtime and sick pay, patrol car and equipment, supervision, uniform and support service.
Eleven townships and two villages have opted to purchase services from the Sheriff's Department. Several municipalities have formed pacts to provide for 24-hour coverage; for instance, Manchester village has a contract for four deputies and nearby Bridgewater Township has one, so they combined for the five deputies needed for round-the-clock service.
Sheriff Minzey said he expected more townships to form pacts with his department.
"For those communities who aren't contracting, I think it was the cost involved and they saw the State Police as a free entity to use," Minzey said. "The State Police told those townships that they were under-utilized and would be there, and many of those townships are very rural with a small tax base, so they made the decision to go that way. They might find out that the free service isn't what it's cracked up to be."
In 2000, police responded to a total of 3,392 calls for service in the seven townships that will now rely on State Police, according to Sheriff's Department figures. Of those, sheriff's deputies handled 69 percent of the calls and state troopers responded on 31 percent of them.
Lt. Moranty said her agency will focus its attention on the county's freeways and those areas that don't have contracts with the Sheriff's Department. There are 29 road patrol officers to cover the county, broken into four to nine troopers per shift, she said.
"We're doing everything we can so the public does not see a change in the police service," Moranty said. "The townships we'll cover are the least populated, and I believe we have adequate staffing levels at this point. There's going to be a learning curve because the Sheriff's Department and State Police used to be able to rely on each other to be there, but now the jurisdictional lines will be clear."
Both departments have pledged to help each other under county mutual aid agreements if they're requested, but that pact is much different than both agencies covering the same ground and backing each other up naturally.
"It's going to be viewed differently. Our hands are tied because of the contracts," Minzey said. "Those townships and villages are paying for us to respond to their needs, so we can't put those communities at risk by pulling police out to help other entities that might be under-policed."
Under the new system, 29 general fund road patrol positions were eliminated at the Sheriff's Department and 13.5 new contracts were added for a total of 89 contracted deputies, according to county figures. Ypsilanti Township makes up the largest contract municipality with 44 deputies.
The largest contract policing agency in the state is the Oakland County Sheriff's Department, which has contracts for more than 200 officers and recently added two new communities, Sheriff Michael Bouchard said. He said several communities had their own departments, but decided to rely on his agency instead because the cost is 15 to 25 percent less than an independent department.
"It's proven to be a very positive relationship on both sides," Bouchard said. "We're able to have relationships with the community and substations, so it's like having a local department."
After contract policing was approved in Washtenaw County, municipalities wrestled with whether to employ the Sheriff's Department or rely on State Police. They held public hearings and some put the issue before voters to approve millages.
Bridgewater Township Supervisor Carol Peacock said the decision was made there to contract one deputy because the majority of voters gave a nod to a millage request. She said residents feared long delays if troopers were charged with covering the township and its population of 1,646.
"I think the concern is that there wouldn't be sufficient emergency service if we didn't contract with the county," Peacock said. "My concern as supervisor might be in the kinds of calls that aren't considered life-threatening might see long delays. I think a lot of residents have felt that we rarely see a police car unless there's an accident or something, so I hope there's more of a presence."
With its 6,425 residents, Sylvan Township is the most densely populated township to opt for State Police services. A major factor for that decision is the proximity of a State Police post detachment based at the Sylvan Township Hall, Clerk Luann Koch said. Two troopers are based there on each shift to cover the western part of the county, although other troopers based in Ypsilanti also patrol those areas, Moranty said.
"We had a public hearing and residents indicated they were comfortable with State Police," Koch said. "A lot of residents had the feeling that they're already here, if they later feel it's not enough, we'll definitely assess it. I'm sure after we have some time under our belt, we'll take another look to see if we're happy or want to look at a millage."
Sheriff Minzey said his command officers will closely monitor each contract to ensure that municipalities are getting the proper number of hours, especially in cases where townships and villages have teamed up their resources. If a deputy is called to another contract area, those hours will be deducted from one contract and placed on the other, he said.
Moranty said troopers began the shift to their new assignments last month, which resulted in a few mix-ups, but policies and procedures are in place for the transition. She doesn't expect that citizens will notice the change, although her troopers will face longer travel times and need to budget their time effectively to handle the increased calls.
"The State Police has always adapted to our roles in different parts of the state based on what was needed," Moranty said. "I don't believe public safety will be at risk while we learn our new role."
Sheriff's officials also have told municipalities that if they decide to contract later, it could be more than six months before a deputy is in place. That would allow the department to hire and train officers.
"I don't have any idea what to expect; only time will tell," Minzey said. "I imagine that a lot of the public might not have followed this too closely, so they'll find out when they pick up the phone for the first time and dial for service."
Amalie Nash can be reached by e-mail at anash@annarbornews.com or at (734) 994-6832.
Sunday, December 30, 2001