Richmond to disband police force
By CLEON RICKEL, Herald Senior Writer
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RICHMOND — The City of Richmond will disband its police department.
The city council voted Tuesday to eliminate the department as a cost-cutting measure.
“It’s a very hard decision,” Mayor Mary Ann Platt said. “We went through a lot of discussion on this.”
Cutting the police department comes at a time when the city’s revenues are declining but the city’s expenses are accelerating, she said.
“Police services are desirable but they aren’t essential to the running of the city,” Platt said.
The department had done a good job, but the expense of running the department became too much for the city, she said.
The City of Richmond budgeted for expenditures of $227,134 this year for the city’s general fund, which includes police services, according a legal notice published in July 2007. The police department budget was $78,500.
Platt said she contacted Sheriff Craig Davis about having deputies provide police coverage to the city and he agreed to do so.
Richmond Police Chief Steve Lease said the action, which came after a short executive session with him and his partner, was a surprise to him.
“We won’t have any police coverage other than having the county on-call,” Lease said.
Lease worked full-time and a second officer, Frank Guilfoyle, worked part-time.
However, the council’s action affects other services, he said.
Both officers were trained medical technicians and one car had an portable heart defibrillator, he said.
“It will affect medical response time,” he said.
The action takes effect as soon as a copy of the ordinance is published as a legal notice in The Herald. That would be Friday at the earliest.
The council will store the police equipment but will have to decide whether to keep Richmond’s two patrol cars, Platt said.
Richmond has had a small department for several years, including having a police dog, which died about two years ago.
Police protection and its cost was an issue in the city council elections last year.
The action means only two cities in the county, Ottawa and Wellsville, have their own police departments.
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