Police Coverage

This year the Village Council has been examining the current level of service provided to the community from our local law enforcement agencies.  One thing that is clear to the Village is that for the most part the community feels very safe, and that there is not a current need for a major increase in police presence.  When the community was surveyed on this topic over 91% of our residents stated they felt safe or very safe in their respective neighborhoods during the day.  That number dropped slightly to 77% when asked about their feelings after dark.  In both cases the next largest response was "neither safe or unsafe."  Those responding that they felt unsafe to any degree was less than 1% during the daylight and less than 4% after dark.

The Village also has reviewed data from Isabella County Central on the calls for service from the village in recent years.  That data has been converted into a graph which is shown below.

The data has also been broken down to compare Lake Isabella with both state and national crime data for our most common offenses.  In all cases it shows that Lake Isabella has a below average crime rate.  That data set is shown below.  While Lake Isabella is below both the state and national averages for our most common incidents one problem can be seen in the data.  That is both the state and national averages have been trending down over recent years while Lake Isabella's has been trending up. 

In light of this trend, and also the frequent concerns of our residents regarding traffic speed, and community policing needs the Village has drafted a simple Request for Proposals.  This RFP has been submitted to the Sherman Township Marshal, Isabella County Sheriff, and Michigan State Police and is due back by next Friday.

Local law enforcement agencies have been hit very hard in recent years due to budget reductions.  All local agencies have been asked to do more with less.  The Village realizes that this places an incredible demand on the services from our local law enforcement agencies.  Demands which ultimately lead to less time they can for regular patrol and community policing in our community. Based on the data we received and reviewed, we feel that one way to help reverse the trendline of recent years is a very moderate and visible increase in law enforcement presence.

The Village Council is looking to do a three-year trial of what impact increased law enforcement presence has.  This will be done at no additional cost to our residents.  If the Village Council opts for some type of additional police presence the data for the three year period would then be reviewed against the data from previous years to see what the impact was and what the needs of the community are at that point in time.  If none of the responses to our RFP fall within the financial ability of the Village, the Village Council is open to considering other options to increase police presence.

###