Good intentions, strange process
A letter was sent out to Colby and Abbotsford business owners in June that asked owners to donate money to the Colby-Abbotsford Police Department to ensure that the department could keep its officers from leaving to pursue more money with other departments.
Entities have received donations before, sure. The Central Fire and EMS District received donations in the past to get new equipment and the CAPD has even received donations to help pay for a new K-9 officer to be trained and added to the force.
But there are a number of strange things about this particular request. The first is that a process that is largely decided by the people the department protects has been taken out of their hands.
The issue that the department is facing is the fact that a changing job market has made it so offi cers that are leaving for more money are getting harder and harder to replace.
During a normal budget crunch, a department seeking more funds would submit a referendum package that would allow the people who are protected by the department to decide if they would like to allocate more of their hard-earned money to better protecting themselves.
The commission in this instance has chosen to bypass that process in hopes of quickly fixing the issue at hand. This isn’t a long-term fix either. The commission president and police chief said this would be a band-aid-type fix until 2024 when the commission would need to re-examine the budget of the department and make changes accordingly.
Assuming they get the funds they need, this does allow time for a push to pass a referendum in 2023 or 2024 that would raise taxes for those who reside in the municipalities. But ultimately, aren’t some of the business owners in Colby and Abbotsford living in the cities that are protected by the department? If so, that means they could donate now and then have to pay their share of taxes when/if the time comes and a referendum is passed in the coming years.
We aren’t saying donating to the police is something that should be frowned upon. They have some of the hardest jobs on the planet and risk life and limb to keep citizens of this area safe. But shouldn’t the commission have looked to increase their budget before the situation came to soliciting donations from area businesses?
Next, if businesses choose not to donate, what will happen to their police service in the coming years? Chief Jason Bauer said, “There will absolutely be no negative impact on police services for those who choose not to participate.”
The letter doesn’t mention anything about the possibility of a conflict of interest if businesses choose not to donate.
Might that lead business owners to feel pressured to donate to ensure that they and their property are protected?
These are concerns that would be unprecedented in their own right but after a move that has no predecessor, we are left to our own judgement on what that might mean for our community.
President of the CAPD Police Commission Todd Schmidt mentioned that if the department could not raise funds, cutting an officer and thus moving to a schedule that doesn’t include 24-hour coverage might be a possibility.
Bauer said that would force Marathon and Clark counties to cover the area and might mean long wait times for 9-1-1 calls when CAPD officers are not on patrol.
If a referendum was created that laid out the consequences and benefits to voting against or for the package, it would put the decision in the hands of those that are protected by the department and not the hands of the commission. That encompasses thousands of people who would then decide how protected they should be instead of five or six.
Editorial by the Tribune- Phonograph editorial board of Neal Hogden, Nathaniel Underwood and Kris O’Leary.
