Judge to Decide Skirmish with 'Rogue' Police Force

One of these is not like the others:

Since the height of the Great Recession, three-fourths Michigan police agencies reported at least some whittling of their ranks, and 40 percent thought more cuts were coming.

That’s according to a March 2014 study by Michigan State University researchers examining contracting for law enforcement and other practices employed by police departments in the face of shrinking budgets.

The Downriver community of Inkster, where city officials slashed more than 60 percent of the police force to make up for budget shortfalls and made a deal with the Michigan State Police for patrol coverage, is considered the most dangerous small city in America.

Not far away in Flint, three-fourths of the police officers were laid off, making it another “murder capital,” with a murder rate that exceeded Newark, St. Louis, New Orleans and Baghdad’s, according to a U.S. Department of Justice report.

And then there’s the Village of Oakley.

In that hamlet 75 miles northwest of Detroit, critics say there are too many police officers – one auxiliary officer for every three of the village’s nearly 300 residents – and that the police chief is operating a “rogue” department, The Detroit News reports.

Most of the 100 or so reserve officers live out of town and donate enough money to cover the $38,000 in associated costs and cover some other government expenses. In exchange, they are able to carry firearms into areas where the public is banned from doing so, such as bars and ballparks, regardless of whether they’re on duty.

The department also has 12 sworn officers.

The issue will go before a Saginaw County Circuit Court judge Oct. 7 in a hearing to sort out whether the village trustees disbanded the department after the chief allowed it to grow so large

On Sept. 9, the trustees voted to halt patrols after the Michigan Municipal League cancelled the city’s insurance amid concerns about both the high number of reserves – about 100 – and numerous lawsuits filed in the wake of ongoing disputes between residents and Police Chief Robert Reznick

A few days later, the reserves obtained a privately financed $500,000 insurance policy and Reznick ordered the officers back to work, without an official vote by the trustees. He said an official vote was unnecessary, because the trustees’ action only disbanded the police department until insurance coverage could be obtained, and that he had board president pro tem Sue Dingo’s blessing.

Trustee Fuzz Koski says Dingo doesn’t have such authority, and he thinks the department is operating illegally.

“They’re out of control,” Koski said. “They seem to think they don’t need to have any council approval.”

He has filed two lawsuits that will be heard at next week’s hearing. One challenges the legality of the insurance provided by the reserve officers, and the other seeks to stop the reserve officers’ return.