I read an interesting article in the Rockford paper yesterday. It was reporting the problem in funding the city of Winnebago, Illinois police department. There have already been two referendums trying to get a tax increase to help fund their police department and both have been rejected. A third referendum is being considered.
Here is the most interesting part. Winnebago is a city with a population of 3,179. They have a police force of five full time and two part time officers. The article indicates the cost of running the police department is $940,000.00 and that is not fully funded.
Breaking down the numbers a little further, five full time and two part time would be a total of 240 hours per week assuming 40 hours for full time and 20 hours for part time work. There are 168 hours in a week. That means over half the time the police force has one officer on duty. Draw your own conclusions regarding protection with that coverage.
Candlewick has a higher population than Winnebago. Consider what our cost would be to fully staff a police department covering our approximately 28 miles of roads and many more homes. Remember these numbers when the pro-incorporation folks tell you we could afford a police department if we only would incorporate. Either Winnebago is doing something very wrong or we could be greatly more efficient running our department. What do you think?
I like our public safety department and gated access with extra coverage from the county sheriff’s department. I think most of you do too. We have a good thing here.
Ken Dillenburg