Friday, October 23, 2009

Citations up with new contract

Sheriff’s Office finishes 1st quarter at helm of Ketchum PD


By TREVON MILLIARD
Express Staff Writer

In the past three months, the Ketchum Police Department issued almost as many citations as it has during entire years previously, according to Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling.

On July 1, the Sheriff's Office took control of the city's police department under a contract for service, and Femling said 236 citations were handed out from then until the end of September. Only 300 citations were written in all of 2007 and 349 were issued in 2008.

So far this year, city police have issued 690 citations. That's about double the number issued during both of the previous two years, and with one quarter to go, Ketchum police are on track for more than 900 citations for 2009.

Femling doesn't attribute this to unruly residents, but credits the Sheriff's Office with encouraging its Ketchum officers to patrol the streets instead of sitting in the office.

"We're not waiting for them to come to us," Femling said.

Ketchum Police Chief Steve Harkins said officers aren't being told to go out and issue as many citations as possible to meet a quota.

"That doesn't improve a thing," he said.

However, the Sheriff's Office's proactive approach to law enforcement may not be entirely responsible for the increase in service. Citations started to increase in the first half of the year before the Sheriff's Office stepped in. During the final six months of Ketchum's pre-existing police department—January 2009 to June 2009—officers handed out 454 citations, equivalent to about 225 per quarter. That's about the same rate as the quarter spanning July to September when the Sheriff's Office took over and issued 236 citations.

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Still, Femling and Harkins argue the citation increase is the result of a bigger picture. And it has to do with the Sheriff's Office's improving police officers' morale.

"I came here in July," Harkins said, "and morale was low. I mean low."

Morale can't be measured as easily as citations, but the Sheriff's Office tried to do just that. In July, it commissioned an outside company to administer a survey to all officers. The department found most officers weren't happy with their job. Femling said the biggest complaint was not being involved in decision making. He said the Sheriff's Office has since then included everyone in meetings and has encouraged independent thinking. He said a big part of this independence is telling officers to drive around and issue citations when needed.

A similar survey will soon be administered again to see if morale has improved in the past three months, but Femling and Harkins already insist it has.

Harkins said that unlike before, police officers are happy to do their jobs.

"Guys are having fun now and getting out there," Harkins said.

The Sheriff's Office entered into a $1.56 million contract with Ketchum to provide law enforcement from July 1 through the end of fiscal 2010 on Sept. 30.

Ketchum City Administrator Gary Marks has said the cost of the 15-month contract is $200,000 less than what the city would spend to keep the department "in-house" and fully staffed.

Trevon Milliard: tmilliard@mtexpress.com




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