Alpena and state police may not be able to fill the gap if county highway patrol is cut | News, Sports, Jobs

Courtesy photo: An Alpena County officer drives his patrol car Thursday. The Alpena County Board of Commissioners discussed eliminating traffic police if a proposed property tax increase fails.

ALPENA — It is unlikely that the Alpena Police Department or Michigan State Police could hire enough police officers to patrol the streets throughout Alpena County if the Alpena County Board of Commissioners laid off the county’s deputies.

The County Council has discussed cutting the number of traffic cops at the Alpena County Sheriff’s Office if voters reject a proposed property tax increase in August.

If the tax proposal fails, the county would have to cut spending by about $1.1 million.

If the worst case scenario occurs and the district lays off its 14 traffic police officers, it would significantly affect the police response capacity in the district, especially in rural areas, police officials told The News.

Alpena police have no jurisdiction outside the city and cannot issue tickets or make arrests outside city limits. State police can issue tickets and make arrests throughout the state, but the Alpena Post oversees five counties, and increased patrols in Alpena County could result in under-policing in other counties, officials said.

Lt. John Grimshaw, commander of the Alpena Post, said he is confident the state police can step in and help the Alpena County Sheriff’s Office if needed. He said it wasn’t long ago that the county’s traffic police were pulled off the road to work at the county jail when there was a shortage of correctional officers in the county.

Grimshaw said it is never good to have fewer police officers on the streets, but if necessary, state police would act as they have in the past and protect people in the Alpena area and respond to complaints.

“We have the ability to adjust resources and fill gaps,” he said. “The residents of Alpena County will always have MSP to protect them.”

Grimshaw added that the Lansing Police Department uses historical crime and population data to determine how many patrol officers should be assigned to a post, and he was unsure if the station’s schedule would change if the county lost officers.

Alpena Police Chief Eric Hamp said city police provide support and assistance when requested by county or state police, but their primary focus remains the city. He said Alpena police can do little outside city limits unless county or state police request assistance.

“Our first priority is the city of Alpena because we can’t go into the county to enforce the laws,” he said. “I’ve never been asked to police outside the city. One way that would affect us is that we would ask for their assistance at times and then lose it. Plus, we don’t have enough staff to cover the entire county.”

On the Aug. 6 ballot, the county will ask voters to approve a property tax increase that would allow the county to recoup tax revenue it is losing under a provision in state law known as the “Headlee rollback.”

A portion of the state constitution known as the Headlee Amendment automatically lowers local governments’ property tax rates when property values ​​rise too quickly, so that the growth in property tax revenue cannot be higher than the rate of inflation.

Governments can ask voters to override this automatic rollback so they can collect the full property tax rate.

Alpena County will ask voters to approve a 0.7 percent increase that would help the county recoup about $800,000 annually. That increase would cost the owner of a $100,000 home about $35 a year.

Alpena County Sheriff Eric Smith said the county’s budget problems are real and must ultimately be addressed, but talk of cuts to police demoralized his staff and added unnecessary stress to an already stressful job.

Smith said that despite Alpena’s low overall crime rate and low levels of violent crime, his deputies and jail staff are still very busy.

He said that since the beginning of 2023 through June 6, police have arrested and booked 1,396 people into the Alpena County Jail. Of that total, the Alpena County Sheriff’s Office has arrested and booked 465 people – most of them in Alpena Township, which does not have its own police force.

Smith said a mass layoff of officers would also limit patrols on ATV and snowmobile trails and effectively end water policing, which he said is important as more boaters, kayakers and divers venture onto Lake Huron.

He said he has faith in the people and the county that they will find a way to continue funding his office so it can continue to serve the public.

“I trust the community and the commissioners to make the right decisions,” Smith said. “We have other things to do, like transferring inmates to courts and other facilities, and we have a lot to lose if things don’t get sorted out.”

Steve Schulwitz can be reached at 989-358-5689 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @ss_alpenanews.com.