- Eaton County Officials address cuts to road patrol.
- Watch the video above to learn about the future of the Eaton County road patrol.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Cause and effect the tax vote failed, which means for the sheriff's office, deputies will no longer be on the road from 6 pm to midnight. Beginning on December 1, Eaton County Sheriff's Office will cut the hours where deputies are out on road patrol.
Right now, deputies are on patrol from 6 in the morning until midnight. But after December first, the new patrol hours will be from 6 in the morning, until 6 at night. that's six fewer hours.
The changes come after the failure of the county tax vote last week. County officials had said that more money coming in is critically needed.
"There is no layoffs, our budget is good until September of next year," Eaton County Sheriff Tom Reich said.
But fewer patrol hours is not the way the sheriff wanted to go.
"I want to bring back 24-hour coverage again," Eaton County Sheriff Tom Reich said.
Sheriff Reich said that during times when deputies are not on the roads, the Michigan State Police would be the ones responding to calls for help.
I caught up with Michigan State police to see how they would help Eaton County.
"At this time we have no changes to who we have working the road, it's business as usual for us," Michigan State Police Rene Gonzales said.
However, Lieutenant Gonzales with the Michigan State Police says it could be longer wait times depending on the call.
"If it's an emergency situation you're going to see the same responses, as far as for a traffic crash or a complaint that has happened already like breaking and entering it may take a little longer," Michigan State Police Rene Gonzales said.
Sheriff Reich tells me hopes the county will try again to find more money, but in a different way.
He'd like a public safety millage to go up for a countywide vote in May.
"We're still looking at the future, if this fails in May, we're going to look at different avenues to take, it's going to be layoffs in the sheriff's office and county-wide," Eaton County Sheriff Tom Reich said
Officials tell me there will be a meeting next month to discuss the potential proposal for May. there's no word yet on how much that potential millage might cost taxpayers.
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