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Williams & Hill present merger plans

By Gretchen Ross - bio | email | Twitter
Posted by Sarah Harlan - email

EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) - The debate is heating up over the merger of local law enforcement.

Evansville Police and the Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Office formally presented their visions to a consolidation subcommittee Monday morning.

After hearing from both EPD Chief Brad Hill and Vanderburgh County Sheriff Eric Williams, as well as a few police officers, the Public Safety Committee  decided to take the next two days to review both plans before a final vote.

"We need to send to them either a vote on maintaining the status quo with some modifications or either take this opportunity to do something really creative," Rev. Adrian Brooks with thePublic Safety Sub-Committee said.

Members of the Public Safety Sub-Committee got a homework assignment Monday morning after hearing plans from both sides about the future  of local law enforcement.

Members will take the next two days to review the plans and talk to officials in other cities with  merged law enforcement.

Before a packed room of police officers and deputies, Sheriff Eric Williams outlined his plan for consolidation.

"The removal of some duplicate administrative-type positions and opportunities to do some things creatively that a consolidated office of law enforcement under the sheriff makes the most sense," Sheriff Williams said.

Under the Sheriff's plan, Williams said certain facilities, administrative positions, and training programs could be combined.

Chief Hill said EPD taking over county could take 20 years, keeping both agencies' pay scale and contracts separate.

Hill's plan eliminates deputies through attrition, saving over $2 million.

"My plan would have the Evansville Police Department slowly and incrementally taking over jurisdiction of the county as part of our reorganization of law enforcement," Chief Hill said. "You still keep the same two different departments."

As both plans were  outlined, they weren't met without opposition.

"If I don't bring what's good for you, why do I want to vote for it?" EPD Officer Mike Winters said. "Whether you combine to save money, am I going to get the same benefits the city's got?"

"Right now is not the time to merge," EPD Officer Dan Winters said. "If we go under the Sheriff's contracts, what's going to happen to our contracts?"

EPD Officer D.J. Thompson shared the Fraternal Order of Police's stance on the issue.

After forming a study committee, Thompson said the organization is against any consolidation of police forces.

"We have two excellent departments now doing a good job," Thompson said. "I don't see a reason to ruin that."

Before the meeting adjourned, sub-committee member Doctor H. Ray Hoops agreed with Thompson to leave the departments as is and actually increase funding for both agencies.

"The idea that there might be savings, quite honestly, is a fiction," Dr. Hoops said. "Services have a cost and if you want the cost you pay for the cost. So in this case I am going to be very hard to persuade that we consolidate these."   

The subcommittee will take a vote Thursday at 3:00 to pick a plan to recommend to the full committee.

Click here to read the full report.

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