As the storm of opinion swirls around Mammoth Lakes and the Town Council proposes to cut seven police officers, Police Chief Dan Watson has made his beliefs known but has not said too much. He has prepared a report which may come up at Thursday night’s Town Council meeting.
At the beginning of October, Chief Watson said, “Being in a remote location without other law enforcement services nearby, I’m concerned about what this will mean for the safety of our residents, visitors, and officers.” The Chief now says he was asked to prepare a plan on a reserve/ volunteer program to support the Police Department. He said it would take time to develop such a program, and it would not offset the loss of seven officers.
As a result of the salvo fired on the police, a number of officers have made plans to retire and to at least apply for jobs elsewhere. Chief Watson said that there will be “a number of vacancies before next July.” The Chief said two officers will retire. Lieutenant John Mair and Officer Jesse Gorham had made their retirements known. The Chief said that one officer has applied elsewhere and is in background checks. He said several other officers have also applied to cover their bases.
The Chief is working on a report on how to restructure the department with ten officers, after losing seven.
The Town Council planned to talk about the government re-structuring plan at their meeting Thursday night at 6pm. The plan is scheduled for discussion as the last item on a somewhat brief agenda.
This may happen to the town “If it hasn’t happened already” if they cut that many law enforcement positions. Watch! http://d.yimg.com/kq/groups/7769081/124862335/name/Tornado1.wmv
Greg, dont deputies make less then their pd counterparts? You also forgot to mention that an SO doesn’t need all of the office staff or the 200k chief. They can delete all that as they have people already doing that Bridgeport and pass all that cost savings onto the town.… Read more »
This issue of cutting the police department arose because they represent such a large part of the city budget and nothing to do with whether the department is too large. The issue at hand is the court ordered payment TOML has to pay. We are all affected whether we like… Read more »
Oh Please…..
think again. I am sad to see an Officer like Gorham leave MLPD. I read an old article about a man who was injecting people with the animal anesthesia Ketamine, and did it to one woman right here on the slopes of mammoth mt. while she was skiing!! wow. Officer… Read more »
Prior to cutting a police department in half and putting the officers/ public at risk, why wouldn’t you get quotes to see how much cheaper the sheriff can do it. amazing!
Hey if the Mammoth Town Council has there way, then the citizens of Mammoth should follow the example of the citizens of O’Brien Oregon where they only have Three Sheriff Deputies. The Citizens have formed Armed Posse Patrols to pick up the slack. http://www.lawofficer.com/article/news/armed-posse-patrols-oregons-ti
Where is The Mountain during all of this discussion? Are they not responsible for this? The Mountain created the need for more police here in the first place. The Mountain wanted the airport and tricked the town into going out and buying it for them. The Mountain was behind the… Read more »
The Mountain is merely a silent partner of the In-group that runs everything. There was a profit motive from one or more councilmen re: the airport. An illusion has been created that The Mountain has nothing to do with anything. This is an old business trick that can razzle-dazzle the… Read more »
High & Dry– Yes- the “Bully in Black” has back-stabbed everyone he was ever in business with. Including Dave (yes – that Dave). I made the mistake of thinking that being “just an employee”, kept me safe– I found out different.
We aren’t Stockton and i’m not saying our murder rate will jump overnigt but I think this article foretells the issues we may face if the TC is allowed to destroy the Mammoth Police Dept. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/18/stockton-poor-poverty-crime-california_n_1346096.html Operating the PD with 10 Officers is unsafe for them and us and we… Read more »
Benett, I certainly hope SOMEONE has crunched numbers to see what it would cost to contract law enforcement out (please post the cost $$$ if its been done). The PD IS GOING UNDER! Or are the elected officials that dumb not even to get an official quote from the Sheriff… Read more »
Mono Sheriff Rick Scholl said the Town has not requested an estimate on a contract with the County.
BK
Any more, a city that has an existing PD finds that it is more expensive to contract out to a Sheriff’s department than it is to run the department. Those that don’t have an existing department usually don’t find it cost efficient to start their own until the town is… Read more »