Harlan Police Department "unification"

 

Recently, the City council of Harlan voted to make the Halarlan Police department go countywide. This means there will be no more police department, the only form of law enforcement in Harlan will be the Sherrif and his deputies. This is a very controversial issue in Harlan and Shelby county. There are lots of people that think that it should stay the way that it was, let’s explore these reasons.

 

First, If/when this doesn't work, and the city wants its police department back, who will pay for it? They will need all of the equipment, they will have to increase certain officers' pay for Sergeant, Asst. Chief, and Chief. The Taxpayers will be the ones paying for the reconstruction of the police department. Also, in Salt Lake, they had a "unified law enforcement system. But they are now wanting their old ways back and are switching to a police and sheriff's office separately. 

 

Secondly, there will not be nearly as much coverage in town when the deputies are able to be countywide instead of staying in town. There is no promise that there will be someone near the city all the time. For example, if something big happens in a different town inside of Shelby county, there will be ZERO coverage in Harlan. With a police department, there is coverage all the time.

 

Third, there will be a loss of jobs in the city. The current police officers are NOT guaranteed a job at the sheriff's department, and two won't get a job anyways. The city will no longer run the police department. This makes you wonder if the high-up people in the city such as the mayor and city administrator need pay cuts because part of their job just got handed over to the county.

 

Fourth, it is not cost-effective and they are not really unified They will have two fewer people than a fully staffed police and sheriff department would. And it would cost around the same amount to do it if not cost more. Also, how are they "truly unified" if they are still in separate buildings for offices? It is still similar to a police department and sheriff's office because of this reason.

 

Questions:

Do you think that the police department should be unified with the sheriff's office?

Why or why not?

What do you think could be some pros/cons of this unification process?

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Replies

  • I dont think the police department should be with the sheriffs department because there should be cops in every town and at least 4 in harlan becasue its a oretty big town and we need cops here incase something happens. Or if a fire happens and there was a cop driving by and they call it in. Or when someone calls 911 but no one is near in time to save them 

  • I do not think the police departments should be unified with the sheriff's department. I say this because Harlan is a pretty big town and  I think that they need cops in town at all times, mainly because there is a decent-sized school district in town. I also think it would be smart to have them in town at all times because most times 911 gets called it is in Harlan. 

  • I do not think that they should unifie them, because if they do, at some points in the day, there won't be any cops in town. If there are no cops in town, what happens when someone calls 911, it would take a lot longer to get to them.  So, I think they should not unifie with the sheriff's office.

    • I agree with you when you say that it would take longer to get to them. Especially when that person is in town, there might not be a deputy for 12 miles.

  • I think that we have to many cops in our town. But if something happens and they can't get there that would be a problem. Jobs are already short and I don't see many posititves to unifie them.

    • I agree that if something happens and they cannot get to someone that there would be a problem. Or another example is that something big happens in Earling, and then there is a domestic call in Harlan. Who is going to respond?

  • I think that they should stay separate because of the coverage reason you gave in paragraph two. I don't think that the sheriffs will be able to keep track of most minor traffic infractions. I think some cons of the unification process could include communitcaiton issues, loss of jobs, less police coverage of in town.

    • I agree they should stay separate. They defiantly won't be able to keep track of traffic because they will be up to their neck in 911 calls and complaints that they won't have time to pull people over.

  • I do not think the police department should be unified with the sheriffs office because its stupid because they get to leave town and now there are gonna be everywhere, also there is gonna be so many under cover cops, and its gonna be bad.

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