Public deserves answers on Rib Lake police

Residents and school district stakeholders in the village of Rib Lake deserve public discussion and answers when it comes to the question of continued police coverage in the village.

Earlier this summer, the village board took no action and with no public discussion allowed the contract of their former village police officer to expire. While the Olympic judges won’t be awarding the village board any style points for how it was handled, for right or wrong, allowing the contract to run out and have the village and the officer part ways was well within village authority.

The million dollar question for residents is “What’s next?”

There has been no formal public discussion by the village board for any plan to hire a new police chief and no discussion of timeline or for that matter what the village wants from its local police. Updates from the village’s three- person police committee have been cryptic, at best, with assurances that things are in the works.

The closest the public has gotten to official updates is the sheriff reporting to members of the county law enforcement committee about requests for extra patrols from his department and for deputies to be in the village during Ice Age Days weekend.

While it is good that the position has been posted and advertised, there is a question about why it took so long to do so and why the public was not invited to be part of the discussion on what level of law enforcement coverage was needed.

Law enforcement is a community-wide issue. This is especially true since the position also serves as the school resource officer, and the school district taxpayers outside of the village pay a portion of the salary with a contract with the village. As the resource officer, the village police officer works closely with the school district and inside the school buildings to serve those law enforcement and peace keeping needs.

The status of the police department is also an important public policy, one beyond the borders of the village, impacting how law enforcement responds throughout the county for such things as how road deputies patrols are done or the availability of support if situations escalate or officer assistance is needed. It is vital that when law enforcement goes into a tense situation they know if someone will be there to have their back.

There is also a financial aspect to all of this. Under revisions to the state shared revenue laws, municipalities receiving additional shared revenue were committed to ensuring that law enforcement would not be cut. Defunding law enforcement would result in a reduction in state shared revenues which would hit all village taxpayers in the pocketbooks.

Residents of the village of Rib Lake have been kept in the dark when it comes to what happens next for local law enforcement. It is time for the village to bring those discussions and plans out into the full light of day.