Hainesville studying cost of full-time police department

The long-term cost of running a full-time police department is being put under the microscope by Hainesville village officials.

Mayor Linda Soto has asked interim Police Chief Fred Heidecke to provide trustees and residents with an estimated long-term cost of continuing to run the village's 18-month old police force.

She said village leaders would balance that against the cost of hiring the Lake County Sheriff's Office or another police department to patrol Hainesville in making a decision on the issue.

"When the department was created, it was done so in haste and, unfortunately, there was no real short and long term projections of the department done," Soto said. "When I was sworn in, there was a concern that I would immediately disband the police department. I said I would make every effort to keep it, but the question is what can we afford. Can we afford to keep the police department?"

Soto said he has met with Lake County sheriff's officials to determine a cost for services.

The village cost analysis includes building a new police station, equipping officers over the long-term, and offering benefits to officers who do not currently receive them, she said.

"You can't have a full-time police department without offering full-time police officers benefits of some kind," Soto said. "The full-time police officers are the backbone of the department, and if we decide to keep the department operating, we will immediately give them a benefits package."

Through 1999, Hainesville operated a part-time police department, but state requirements for officers changed that year, meaning Hainesville police would need more training, or the village had to look elsewhere. Hainesville partnered with Round Lake Park Police for the next nine years, but that ended in February 2008 amid a dispute over the cost of services.

The village created its own police force in May 2008 under former mayor Ted Mueller and former chief Ronald Roth.

Soto, who defeated Mueller in February, said she promised voters when elected she would review the department to determine its future.

Soto does not have a date when Heidecke would complete the final cost analysis report, but said she was hopeful most of the numbers would be in place by the end of the year.