(NewsNation) — The Colorado town of Nederland is shutting down its police department, a decision the mayor says has resulted in “division” in the community over a new path forward.
Facing a yearslong shortage of officers, city officials opted to shutter the department this week after a monthslong search for a new marshal.
Though the city hoped to rebuild the police force following Marshal Jennifer Fine-Loven’s resignation, Mayor Billy Giblin said Thursday on “NewsNation: Rush Hour” it would be far too expensive.
“The biggest impact has been division, or maybe misinterpretation and misunderstanding of things along the way,” Giblin said of the impact on disbanding the department. “There were different opinions about which direction we should have gone or should go.”
Boulder County deputies were already being contracted since 2018 to cover night and weekend shifts for the city. Undersheriff Carey Weinheimer said officers will now work overtime to cover the dayside shifts as well.
He doesn’t anticipate any major impact to services throughout the county.
“Deputies are giving up one of their days off basically to cover the town of Nederland, but we are still providing adequate service and certainly are able to respond to emergencies,” Weinheimer said.
The situation isn’t unique to Nederland. Overhead costs can be a significant burden on small towns across the country, Weinheimer said, if they are required to have equipment like body-worn cameras. The Police Executive Research Forum estimates each camera can top $1,000 when accounting for factors like data storage.
“Larger agencies like sheriff’s offices who have economies of scale are able to step in and help smaller towns provide law enforcement service,” Weinheimer said. “While it’s not the same as having your own police department, we’re still there for emergencies and can provide certainly a higher level of service if we go into a full contract where we become that town’s police department.”
While it’s “always a possibility” that Nederland could rebuild its own police force in the future, right now Giblin said the city is committed to the new arrangement.
“This is definitely a choice to … continue on in the direction with the Boulder County sheriff’s contract,” Giblin said.
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Author: Tyler Wornell
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