EVANSVILLE —One of the most vocal opponents of combining law enforcement as part of possible Evansville-Vanderburgh County government consolidation plan said he believes members of law enforcement will be open to reshuffling their departments in the future.
D.J. Thompson, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 73, said most of the concern from members wasn't about how the plan would have merged the Evansville Police Department and the Vanderburgh County Sheriff's Office, but how quickly the proposal was adopted into the original reorganization plan. At a public hearing in March, Thompson said an immediate merger would result in high up-front costs and officer morale issues.
The FOP chapter is made up of both Evansville police officers and Vanderburgh County Sheriff's deputies. Thompson said members from both agencies expressed concerns about the original proposal, which combined the two under the leadership of the county sheriff.
On Thursday, local officials tasked with crafting a possible referendum proposal on the issue agreed in principle to strip the plan of language that would merge the two departments under the direction of the county sheriff. Several members of the Evansville City Council and the Vanderburgh County Commissioners expressed concern that issue alone could potentially derail the entire consolidation proposal.
The two bodies that must pass identical reorganization proposals for it to even appear on the ballot, probably in November of 2012.
It now likely any plan going forward will include specific language maintaining the two departments and spelling out steps that address the possibility of unifying the department in the future.
Police Chief Brad Hill and Sheriff Eric Williams, as well as several officials, expressed the need to put in such a plan to prevent the issue from being discussed and changed simply at the whim of future leaders. While officials widely discussed exploring the issue in 10 years, no consensus was reached.
Williams, a proponent of a possible merger and the main force behind the original law enforcement proposal, conceded there isn't much support to merge the two agencies. Echoing comments from many Thursday, he said he would hate to see law enforcement "stymie" the whole plan. If the referendum gains passage, Williams said, he hoped a unified policing agency becomes more desirable once the new government is in place.
If consolidated government becomes a reality, Thompson said he expects the two agencies to merge to some degree in the future. Though he told those in charge of final plan "the two departments are more different than alike" in March, Thompson said he believes the two agencies themselves, though separate, would continue to look for ways to be more efficient by combining services, especially if they were under the same government. He pointed to the joint drug task force and central dispatch as examples.
But Thompson said when it comes time for the issue of a single department to be broached again, officials will need to prove a unified department would be more efficient and more beneficial to the community.
"Police officers are like anyone else with a job," he said. "If you can show them the positive points and that it would be for the better I can see maybe some sort of consolidation or merger coming through for law enforcement."
Hill made similar comments at Thursday's meeting. Officials, particularly county commissioner Marsha Abell, said the issue will need to be revisited if consolidation passes without a unification plan for the two departments. Hill said he believed the original proposal did not bring any added cost saving or service benefit to the community and was added purely to give the new government a singular agency.
"Don't characterize me as not wanting change because of the turmoil it would cause. I'm used to turmoil in this position." Hill said.
But Rebecca Kasha, chair of the 12-member reorganization panel expressed doubt the issue would cause any less controversy no matter when and how it was taken up again. Her committee was specifically directed to craft an option for a single department, and she called not immediately addressing the issue a failure to "grab the bull by the horns."
I don't think waiting will make it any easier," she said.