Let's get out of the police business

There always seems to be no-man's-land of dispute between those who recognize the new reality and others who remain stuck, perhaps nostalgically, in the old framework. Nowhere is that more true than in the dispute over whether to maintain a Saint Paris police squad.

This is a no-brainer.

We've had 17 resignations from our tiny force since I joined the village council in January 2022. Seventeen. That's one every 60 days. Can't run a police squad -- or any organization for that matter -- if you're having to replace and train 20 percent of it every two months.

This is not a problem unique to Saint Paris.

There's enough anecdotal evidence out there to demonstrate that every police department, large and small, is experiencing the same problem. We're hearing that officers in medium-sized cities like Urbana and Springfield are making six figures because of all the overtime they're being asked to serve. No one can seem to meet the policing demand. According to news reports, a citizens group is suing Springfield because they've failed to achieve promised force levels.

Our remedies won't work

We're told that if we just raise our starting pay (we'd need to nearly double it) then it would be easier to hire officers. But that argument ignores the bigger gorilla in the room, which is the lack of upward mobility. In Saint Paris your opportunity is patrol officer or ... nothing else. Larger departments offer a host of opportunities, education and career paths. This is the insurmountable obstacle to hiring stability.

Some have said that we should be satisfied with our role as a training ground for young officers. Is that fair to village residents? In my view we deserve more experienced, professional officers.

Larger police departments are Wal-Mart, and we're not

I compare it with the plight of downtown businesses forty years ago. Things were going well until Wal-Mart opened up just outside of town. Suddenly there was a nearby competitor offering lower prices and greater selection. Downtown retailers who tried lowering their prices to barely-survivable levels still couldn't match the selection offered by the big-box retailiers. So Main Street USA just crumbled. In the past couple decades a few have figured out how to compete (our downtown still includes a pharmacy, furniture and hardware store) but downtowns everywhere still are struggling.

To use the Wal-Mart analogy, the Saint Paris police squad is the downtown flower shop and the larger departments are Wal-Mart. With their own array of ready-to-purchase boquets.

Can't win. So the first step is to admit it.

Maybe other small-town police units will figure this out and we can learn from their example. We'll still own the cars, the buildings and most of the equipment. Until then we should close shop, contract with the sheriff, and move forward with a plan that offers professional policing within our budget.