Olathe ponders police options

OLATHE — The discussions may make him “the most hated person in Olathe,” but Mayor Don Perkins said the time’s come to at least consider a law enforcement services contract with the Montrose sheriff.

Perkins said the Olathe Police Department — funded at around $300,000 per year — is just one of many town departments being examined due to budgetary issues. Perkins confirmed the town has approached Montrose County Sheriff Rick Dunlap for talks, but said no decision has been made.

“We’re looking at all departments. It’s not just the police department,” he said Tuesday. “No one, including the police department, should take it that way.”

Perkins could not say what exactly would become of the OPD, were the town to contract law enforcement services with Dunlap. He said at this point, the idea is little more than a suggestion and the town needs to know what Dunlap could actually provide. Conversely, Dunlap would need to know what Olathe wanted, Perkins said.

“I didn’t call and say, ‘Hey, would you take over the police department,’” the mayor said. Dunlap confirmed being contacted six weeks ago. He said he and Perkins also met Tuesday.

“He threw out the suggestion that they would be interested in a proposal from the sheriff’s office to provide law enforcement for the city of Olathe,” Dunlap said, later stating the idea was only in the “talking phase.”

“If you don’t ask the questions, you’ll never get the answers,” Perkins said. “In some circles, I’m the most hated person in Olathe today. In some circles, it’s ‘We should’ve thought of this before.’”

He said he called other town board members to inform them of the sheriff’s interest.

Further discussions were to be held in executive session next Monday; however, Perkins said, no decision would be made at that time and the public would have ample opportunity to comment.

Olathe Police Chief Ric Hawk said he only learned of the talks Monday and was still trying to inform all of his officers Tuesday.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea and I don’t think it’s good for the community,” Hawk said.

Hawk oversees five officers and departmental administrative staff for the town of about 1,700. He said contracting out law enforcement services would cause Olathe to lose the personal relationship between officers and the community, and all the advantages that go with it. Additionally, he feared the direction of law enforcement would no longer be under local control.

Other municipalities in Montrose County contract with the sheriff’s office for municipal enforcement.

The towns of Nucla and Naturita did not have an existing municipal police force when they entered into contracts last year. The contracts paid for another deputy to be added to the roster at the West End sheriff’ substation, which allowed Dunlap to provide an officer for municipal enforcement duties.

Dunlap said he was gathering information about Olathe’s call volume in order to determine how many deputies would have to be assigned to the town under a contract.

He said it was likely the deputy or deputies would be stationed in Olathe full-time, but whether the town would provide a substation office was yet another thing to be discussed.

“Before we can go any further, we’ve got to have some information from them, too,” Dunlap said. “There’s a lot of things that have to go into this before we can present them with a proposal.”

The suggestion is no different than talking to the Montrose Recreation District about taking over activities in Olathe, Perkins said.

“I don’t want the police department to be trivialized,” he said, adding that the town board’s responsibility is to wisely spend the public’s money, so it’s a matter of whether a law enforcement contract proves financially feasible.

“This (idea) has been bounced around for years by a lot of people,” Perkins said. “... To say I’m looking at getting rid of the police department is a misstatement.”

Olathe Town Administrator Scott Harold could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Others who called the Daily Press with concerns did not speak on the record.