Police Consolidation Research Paper

Public Perception of a Police Department Consolidation

John M. Ellsworth
Eastern Michigan University
School of Staff and Command
2009

Table of Contents Public Perception of a Police Department Consolidation 0 Introduction 2 1. Geographical Information (Moran, 2007) 2 History of the Walled Lake & Wolverine Lake Police Service Sharing Agreement 2 The current Walled Lake & Wolverine Lake Police Shared Services Agreement 3 In the beginning… 5 The Survey 6 Walled Lake on-line Survey 9 Wolverine Lake Residential Survey 15 Narrative: 21 Summary: 24

Introduction
This thesis will examine the public perception of the consolidation of two of Michigan’s small police departments, The City of Walled Lake and the
No (45%) 11

12) Overall, what is your perception of the police Department’s efforts regarding Criminal Activity?
Excellent (29%) 7 Good (29%) 7 Fair (29%) 7 Poor (8%) 2

These 12 questions/ on-line replies were a very small sample of the response from the overall communities regarding the Consolidation of the Police Department, (A total of 24 on-line responses, 20 from citizens of Walled Lake and 4 from citizens from Wolverine Lake.)

Wolverine Lake Residential Survey
The Village of Wolverine Lake agreed to mail the survey as an insert of the “Villager Lite”, the Annual Village Newsletter.
Approximately 1000 surveys were dispensed on or around May 1st, 2009 by U.S. Mail bulk rate.
By June 1st, 2009 (Stated deadline), only 99 surveys had been returned to the Village Office by mail or dropped off in person. The only difference between the Walled Lake “On-Line” survey and the “Hard Copy” or mailed version, is that Question #1 was eliminated due to the fact that it was only mailed to the Village of Wolverine Lake residents. The survey question numbers will be adjusted to reflect the same number to the Walled Lake survey. (Question # 1 will be skipped, What City/Village do you
Two town hall meetings occurred with a very large turnout at both. Both were overwhelmingly supportive of the police department and did not want to see a change in the size or see a consolidation of the Police Department. They have been very vocal regarding the decision making process. The citizens of Wolverine Lake are used to a very community oriented police department and contact with officers on a regular basis. This personal interaction has between the officers and the community has been lacking since the consolidation took place. This is not necessarily the fault of the officer on patrol as much as decisions to switch to a different style of management. Officers are now on 12 hour shifts and generally work with minimum manpower which leaves little time for public relations or community interaction. The Village residents were very used to this type of service and interaction for many years from their police department. The citizens of Wolverine Lake are still very skeptical of the Walled Lake officers but I believe that will be reduced over time and as they get to know their names and faces. The skepticism of the consolidated police services may also be due to philosophical and managerial styles of performance between the two