WESTON, Wis. (WSAU) - Officials with the Everest Metro police department may be re-evaluating their mutual aid agreement with Rothschild police in the the coming weeks.
Police chief Wally Sparks says his department has been sending a disproportionate amount of officers over to cover for police in Rothschild. "A lot of times when they only have one officer on at night, it limits their ability to handle routine calls you need two officers for like domestics or bar fights."
Sparks presented this information as part of an overview of the failed merger between the two departments at last night's police commission meeting. Rothschild officials recently voted against the proposal. Sparks says any change in the agreement will have to come from the police commission. "I'll put a summary report together so the elected officials can make a determination on whether or not it's something that should be modified going forward."
Under the current agreement, the two departments agreed to help each other out in emergencies. But Sparks says Everest Metro officers have been dispatching themselves over to Rothschild to help with routine calls for some time. "Our supervisors have not been following policy, and officers have just been moving down to help cover Rothschild as a matter of course. I take responsibility for this and until I did these reports, I had no idea to the extent of what was taking place."
Sparks says that practice will need to be looked at. "Safety comes first and nobody's going to get hurt. If they need help out there, we're going to be there. But there is business side to it and there is an accountability to our taxpayers."
The next meeting for the commission has not yet been scheduled.