With ongoing concerns about budget shortfalls, the Bishop City Council has examined the City budget in a series of workshops. At one point, officials decided to at least look at the possibility of a law enforcement contract with the Inyo Sheriff. Sheriff Bill Lutze said an initial meeting did take place, and now he has two members of his staff working on very preliminary cost estimates.
That initial meeting included Sheriff Lutze, Bishop Police Chief Chris Carter, County Administrator Kevin Carunchio and City Administrator Keith Caldwell. They talked about what the City needs in services. Chief Carter had earlier said that the City Council made it clear to him that they would ask the County to provide the exact same level of service that the Police Department currently provides.
Sheriff Lutze said he told City officials that he would do a “real rough cost estimate to see if we want to go forward. If they do,” he said, “I will bring in a team from another County to perform detailed costs.” Lutze said the rough figures are for both the City and the County to see if the money makes sense. For now, the Sheriff continues to meet with his staff as they pull figures together.
Asked in November about his thoughts on a County contract, Police Chief Carter said he did not blame the City Council for looking into it “because they do have a financial responsibility to look at any and all areas to save money.” The Chief did say that going with the County would mean loss of control by the Council Council over law enforcement.
Currently the Bishop Police Department employs twelve officers, including the Chief.
Dan-
Good points but it’s kind of creepy. You probably know what I ate for breakfast too. I like hometown protection but I don’t need a big brother either.
There is no way you will have the same service that you have with the local Police Department if you contract with the Sheriff’s Dept. I grew up in Bishop, work in Bishop, and live in the City Limits. I am raising my children here as I was raised. I… Read more »
Not a bad idea to investigate. I’ve heard that we have the greatest number of law enforcement per capita in the state in our area. Even the Game Wardens respond to calls on occasion, that reminds me, did Sierra Wave ever find out how much the Game Warden checkpoints cost… Read more »
We posted it in a story. Go to our site and search for Fish and Wildlife.
BK
Talking out your rear end Able Body, are you an insider or possibly a Bishop PD employee? How do you know the effectiveness of INET, an agency that does things undercover? Interesting. How do you know the effectiveness of the DA’s office? An agency that’s held to a high standard… Read more »
Dust Devil is there something more to this possibility that should be shared? Why would a BPD employee make such a statement? Curious…..I’m concerned this issue might be keeping you awake at night? Just considering the time in which you posted…
I vote for whoever hands out the least amount of tickets. CHP you lose.
What does California POST (Peace Officer Standards and Training) have to say about this proposal. Maybe it’s too early for their input, but they will be involved as the process continues. A good question to put forth, Bennett?
Having worked for the LA County Sheriff’s Dept for 30 years I can guarantee you the contract city gets far more service than what they pay for in their contract. I worked a station in a contract city that had a huge county unincorporated area around the city. Every shift… Read more »
Roy you are absolutely correct. Contracted cities in the LA area did benefit from contracting with LA CO Sheriff not only for deployment of personnel, but because the Sheriff could offer special services that cities could not afford to fund; SWAT, forensics, narcotics teams etc. Again win win for those… Read more »
Before you two break your arms patting yourselves on your back, read this study: http://www.liveuptehachapi.com/DocumentCenter/Home/View/78 Tehachapi terminated their contract with KCSD and re-establshed their own police force to save money, which they indeed did. Similiarly Bear Valley has suspended plans to replace it’s police department with KCSD because there was… Read more »
Where is your evidence that the two county supervisors were bribed?
Benett Kessler
There was an article the day after the November election in the Indian Wells Valley News Review by one of their best reporters who detailed the entire history of what Benz did to Ridgecrest. The article noted that Paul Benz had made “donations” of many thousands of dollars to the… Read more »
Oh, almost forgot an important detail. The article detailed how the person running Kern County’s landfills noticed the spike in tonnage being delivered into the Tehachapi landfill and decided to run an audit. The Kern County BoS directly interfered in the audit, shut it down and then re-wrote the rules… Read more »
Desert Tortoise: Hi, remember me? From your younger years – I’m reality. I realize it’s been a while, but I’d like to rekindle our relationship…
Did you not read my post? You seem to be against me, but you just affirmed each point I made – Thank you…?
Let’s face it, the BPD is on a whole different level then the Sherifs Dept. The sheriffs department can barely man what they have now, let alone take over the city and all the business. At what point do you choose saving money over the safety of the city. The… Read more »
I will point out that if a city contracts with a county, the city pays the county to hire enough officers to provide the desired level of service.
Benett Kessler
Sheriff Bill and his deputies would do a excellent job.
As does the Police chief and officers on the Bishop P.D.
….speaking from my little town,what I see ,find out,and know of ,the Inyo County Sheriffs Dept. is doing a great job….
Be careful what you ask for. You get what you pay for. Inyo county cannot do the same level of service the BPD provides. Just look at INET and how ineffective they are. The same goes for the DA office. Yes. You get what you pay for.
The city of Bishop needs to be very wary of any contract with the county. Based on the experiences of communities in LA and Kern Counties that have eliminated their local police departments in favor of contracting to their respective counties for polce services, the price might be right for… Read more »
These Big Fat Public Employee Salaries And Pension Funds are Killing our Economy, govt. really needs to bring these public salaries and pensions in line with private sector earnings ASAP because this rediculious UNSUSTANIBILITY Is just about reached Its Limits 🙂
What private sector police are you comparing the public sector police salary to?