Sleepy Hollow might eliminate police force
Sleepy Hollow has had a change of heart when it comes to sharing police services with West Dundee.
Sleepy Hollow authorities are considering an arrangement in which they would disband the village’s police force and hire West Dundee cops to patrol its streets.
West Dundee would accommodate them by creating a third beat area exclusive to Sleepy Hollow and hire six new officers — four would be full-time and two who would be part-time, West Dundee Village Manager Joe Cavallaro said. A part-time officer makes $20 an hour, while a first-year police officer makes around $50,000 a year.
Sleepy Hollow runs a police force of five full-time police officers, nearly a dozen part-time officers, one sergeant and one chief.Cavallaro is delighted Sleepy Hollow has returned to the table.
#147;We#146;ve always believed from an organizational and community standpoint that consolidation and cooperative efforts in terms of the sworn services, really makes sense to the betterment of the larger Dundee communities,#148; Cavallaro said.
An original proposal, discussed last year among Sleepy Hollow, West Dundee and East Dundee, suggested that the group consolidate police services.
West Dundee would have taken the role of contract services provider because its services are the most advanced and its infrastructure is tied to the strongest tax base.
Officers would report to a chief based in West Dundee and the village would hire new officers as others left. The goal was to save money for the partners by using fewer managers, fewer facilities and fewer vehicles, while relying heavily on part-time staff.
But those talks collapsed shortly after Sleepy Hollow pulled out. The consolidation would only save the village $134,800 annually #8212; the least amount of the other towns #8212; and officials said that number wasn#146;t enough to justify losing autonomy with its officers.
#147;When the last study was done about a year ago, Sleepy Hollow opted out and was not interested in that proposal, but we did say we#146;d consider proposals that have come down the pike,#148; Sleepy Hollow Village President Stephen Pickett said. #147;It#146;s just a little bit different. We would actually be contracting for policing services from West Dundee as opposed to merging the departments per se.#148;
West Dundee created the latest proposal in late December after Pickett reached out to the village.
Sleepy Hollow#146;s finance committee is reviewing the proposal and calculating cost savings. It will issue a report to the board shortly thereafter, Pickett said.