Winder wants Cottonwood Heights to continue to contract for services with his office, which provides police protection for unincorporated areas of the county and five of the county's 16 cities. Cullimore craves a separate, more-responsive city police department that takes its marching orders from city hall.
After months of maneuvering, a public hearing and seemingly endless debate, the pair have reached a standoff. Now the City Council's gun is locked and loaded. And high noon arrives at 7 p.m. today.
If the council, armed with a study that says a local department is expensive but feasible, pulls the trigger at its meeting tonight, there'll be a new sheriff in town. And Winder's office will lose a $3.8 million-per-year customer.
According to the feasibility study, a city department with 32 sworn officers would cost $4.2 million a year, $400,000 more than Cottonwood Heights pays the sheriff's office for 29 deputies and access to specialty units like SWAT teams and crime labs and homicide specialists that the small city could never afford.
That leaves the council to make what should be an easy decision. Is it willing to pay a pile of money to gain the prestige that comes with having your name printed on the sides of police cars? Is it willing to fork over $1.7 million in start-up costs, and unnecessarily increase the workload of the city's human resources and vehicle maintenance departments? Simply put, is it willing to pay a lot more for much less?
If the council opts to establish its own department, the taxpayers of Cottonwood Heights won't be the only losers.
The sheriff's office will also take a hit, as the economy of scale that allows it to operate like a big-city department continues to erode. Taylorsville and Draper dropped county coverage and formed their own departments in the past four years, and a Cottonwood Heights defection could encourage others to follow suit.
When it comes to providing police protection, bigger is better. And the sheriff's office is the closest thing we have to a large, regional police force. Cottonwood Heights should stay in the fold.
