BURLINGTON — Boone County Sheriff Mike Helmig says he has opened the door between this county's two law-enforcement agencies, and now it's time to tear down the wall.

        When Sheriff Helmig says that, he isn't talking in fancy metaphors. About a year ago, he literally opened the two doors that divide the police and sheriff's departments in the Boone County administration building. The two departments share adjoining offices.

        Sheriff Helmig said when he was a deputy, the doors to the county police department were not allowed to be opened. Heavy desks were even placed in front of the doors to discourage any ideas.

        Now fiscal court will likely vote next week on whether to move forward with consolidating the two departments, an issue under study for nearly two years. Under a proposed plan, the merger could be completed by July 1.

        Boone County Judge-executive Gary Moore announced his support of the consolidation after a nearly two-hour presentation outlining a merger plan during Tuesday evening's fiscal court meeting.

        Sheriff Helmig said he knew he had started tearing down the confrontational attitudes between the two departments when a county police officer walked through a recently opened door and started eating the sheriff's lunch of french fries.

        The mounting acceptence that the two departments will merge could be seen in the number of sheriff's deputies and police officers who attended Tuesday's meeting. When fiscal court took up the issue about two years ago, the room was packed with concerned officers. Tuesday, there were just a handful of officers, and no one from the audience spoke out against the plan.

        County Commissioner Charlie Kenner, the son of the late Boone County Sheriff Ron Kenner, also indicated he would support the merger. Ron Kenner died in office, catapulting then Deputy Helmig to Sheriff Helmig.

        Commissioner Robert Hay said another option would be to redirect money from the sheriff's department to the county police. Under this option, police would maintain their law enforcement duties and the sheriff's department would only fulfil its constitutional duties.

        “It is not necessary for this court, or any court, to provide a sheriff the wherewithal to provide law enforcement,” he said.

        Sheriffs in Kentucky are required to perform duties including protecting the courts and serving judicial papers. The Boone County Sheriff's department has taken a more active role in county law enforcement, responding to 25 percent of the calls made to the Boone County emergency dispatch center.

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