Sunday, April 18, 1999
Merger talk riles departments
Boone studies sheriff, police
BY JANE PRENDERGAST
The Cincinnati Enquirer
BURLINGTON — A debate over saving money on law enforcement in Boone County is causing strife between two departments that have coexisted for more than three decades.
The sheriff's and police departments are a hallway apart in the Boone County administration building. Deputies and officers share information and back each other up on calls. Many are friends.
Yet state law mandates only one of the agencies, the sheriff's office. That leaves the police department at the mercy of the county's fiscal court, and Boone County's all-new commissioners and judge-ex ecutive want to study a possible merger.
It's a debate being aired in jurisdictions across the commonwealth — would combining law-enforcement agencies give residents better, more cost effective service?
“There's a lot of worry,” said Officer Jim Wermeling, president of the police department's FOP lodge and a nine-year veteran. “We've heard nobody will lose their jobs, but there's still concern.”
Police Chief Jim Whalen said he supports a fair and impartial study of how the two departments work. His department just last week got word that it passed its state accreditation.
“I think that speaks volumes,” he said. “I think that we provide an excellent police service.”
The office of sheriff is spelled out in Kentucky's state constitution. Its duties include collecting taxes, inspecting vehicles and serving all court process papers, such as subpoenas and protective orders.
But the sheriff also can do the same kind of law enforcement that the police department does. Some sheriffs exercise that option, some don't.
Boone Sheriff Mike Helmig does. His deputies write traffic tickets and do criminal investigations in addition to monitor ing courtroom security.
The police department, created in 1966 and led since September by Chief Whalen, has none of the sheriff's court-related responsibilities. Its officers, however, are usually the first to be dispatched when a resident calls 911. They logged more than 34,000 calls for service last year and opened 2,251 criminal cases,
both numbers higher than those of the sheriff's department.
A merger of the two agencies would more than triple the sheriff's ranks and more than double his coffers. He would inherit the department's 54 sworn officers and its $3.2 million budget, increasing his totals to 78 and about $5.7 million.
“By bringing it together, you can put more people on the street,” Sheriff Helmig said. “I don't see any employees losing anything — pay, rank, years of service.”
Police officers see it differently. They worry about a difference in insurance, the sheriff's residency requirement and working five eight-hour shifts instead of their current 10-hour shifts four days a week.
“The small differences add up to quite a big difference,” Officer Wermeling said.
Sheriff is elected
Mostly, though, there is fear about working for a department led by an elected official who could change every four years.
Sheriff Helmig said he would never expect anybody to work for his campaigns, but the officers still are concerned about that possibility.
Several officers said they did not want to talk publicly about the possible merger before FOP members air their concerns Tuesday at a fiscal court meeting.
The FOP endorsed Judge-executive Gary Moore and new commissioners Cathy Flaig and Robert Hay. During those pre-endorsement conversations, Officer Wermeling said, the candidates indicated the department had a good reputation. That's why the members were surprised when those they had endorsed supported a merger study.
Sheriff Helmig says the proposed merger isn't a reflection of the department's abilities or track record, but a cost-saving measure. He predicts a savings in the coming years through attrition, both by not replacing some retirees and by replacing others with lower-paid patrol officers.
He also says any start-up costs, such as repainting the police department's some 50 cruisers and buying new uniforms for the officers, would be minimal relative to future savings. He thinks most of those costs could be covered by drug-forfeiture funds. The police department has about $170,000 in that fund now.
Idea not a new one
Mergers of law-enforcement departments have taken place elsewhere — Charlotte, N.C., in 1993, Las Vegas and Jacksonville, Fla., longer ago than that. Officials in those cities say that after transition periods, the merged departments are providing more cost-effective service.
Closer to home, the example officials point to as a success is Lexington.
Twenty-five years ago, the city of Lexington and Fayette County merged all departments, including law enforcement. But that came about because of an unusual set of circumstances at the time — Lexington was growing by annexing property throughout Fayette County. That created a patchwork of different services in different areas and left police and firefighters confused about jurisdictions.
Merger talk is under way in Louisville, where some officials want to combine the city and Jefferson County police departments.
A poll last fall of Louisville residents found half of the respondents in favor of a merger. But other studies since have shown that start-up costs of converting cars, uniforms and radio systems, among other things, would seriously cut into any projected savings. A decision has not been made.
Last week in Versailles, the new judge-executive ordered a study of merging the city and Woodford County police departments. Versailles Chief Allen Love, like Chief Whalen, said he is open to the possibility as long as a fair study determines the combination would give residents better service. The sheriff's department there would not be involved.
Debate causes strain
In Boone County, talk of the merger is unnerving officers and testing longtime friendships — even at the top of both departments.
Sheriff Helmig, in the top job since May 1997, credits Chief Whalen with teaching him, years ago, how to shoot a gun. They worked together for years, especially since the chief took the top job last September, to foster cooperation. Reports are shared between departments. And their SWAT teams recently had their first joint training exercise.
The departments are working together better than ever, some say. Or were, until talk of merging came up.
Both the chief and the sheriff say they've told their ranks not to take out any confusion on each other. And both hope the fiscal court's decision doesn't hurt their personal relationship.
“I understand that there is a lot of pride there,” the sheriff said. “I do understand that. And that's good. But the only thing they're going to lose is the color of their uniforms, the color of their cars.”
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