A City Police Department

In 2016 a group of citizens who were aware of many reasons to sack the local police department did a petition drive to get the issue placed on the ballot.  

The drive was a success and in the election there was a clear choice made to eliminate the department.  

The question that comes to mind is why the current city council is beating the drum for a repeat performance.

Is there a reason why the council doesn't want to renew the contract with the county? Maybe some people have a short memory about the costs of running a police department.

If there is a problem with the sheriff's department, why not air it in a council meeting.  Invite the sheriff and let him answer any questions the citizens have.

Also, what is the cost of the current contract renewal?

There may be some folks in city government who just like the idea of having a police department that can be directly controlled by the council.

The former police chief moved to a position in Adams county where he was investigated for undisclosed actions. The article about this is posted on this page. 

Revisiting the Failure of a City Police Department in Walsenburg

This is the outline for a more detailed article looking at the resurgence of the idea that Walsenburg needs its own police department.

My first impression about the former police department was the high cost to maintain it.  I noticed a few years ago that while the city budget was about 1.4 million that the police department used about $900,000 of that.  That appeared to be the biggest one cost that we had.

What did we get for that expense?  We got never ending liability stemming from complaints and continuous requests for vehicle repairs and money for canine training and upkeep and pension expense and medical insurance expense.

Many of these expenses increase year after year.

If we contract for police services, a lot of liability and other expenses are covered. I am looking for confirmation that the city is proposing the expenditure of about $25,000 on a study to decide if it is cost effective to continue contracting services.

Instead of paying someone to tell us what we need, how about being transparent about the current numbers.  How about inviting the Sheriff to attend a council meeting and go over the numbers and the services included in the contract.  It would be informative to know what percentage of the current budget is set aside for law enforcement.