The new Mountain Bay Police Department merger officially kicks off in May
The new Mountain Bay Police Department merger officially kicks off in May
But don't expect changes all at once as the department works out the details
A brand new merged police department in the southern metro area is almost ready to launch — but residents there shouldn’t expect to see the changes all at once.
The newly unified Mountain Bay Metropolitan Police Department is expected to officially begin operations on May 1, according to Village of Rothschild Administrator Ryan VanDeWalle and Village of Weston Administrator Jami Gebert.
But both administrators indicated that although there are still some “odds and ends” to take care of prior to that date and that other details will continue to be worked out after the official launch.
The Village of Weston and the Village of Rothschild in March approved the merger of the Rothschild and D.C. Everest Metro police departments. The City of Schofield and the Town of Weston followed suit in April by agreeing to the new department. VanDeWalle confirmed that all four municipalities have officially signed on.
The Wausonian first broke news in January that the two municipalities were planning to merge police departments for a number of reasons — but one of the main reasons was the challenging staffing each department. Village President Mark Maloney said in the meeting where his village approved the merger that Everest Metro hadn’t been fully staffed since 2016.
The new police department will have a $6.7 million budget, split 65-35 between Weston and Rothschild respectively.
Officers from the D.C. Everest Metro Police Department have already begun working at the Rothschild Police Department headquarters, VanDeWalle says, now the headquarters for the new Mountain Bay Metropolitan Police Department.
Current Rothschild Police Chief Jeremy Hunt will officially take over on May 1 as the first chief of the new department after being named the department’s first chief by the new department’s police commission last month. He’ll lead the new 42-employee department. The new department is looking to hire additional officers over the next year, although none have yet been hired.
The branding for the new department – which includes uniforms, logos and vehicle decals as well as other visual elements – will likely be in process until July, VanDeWalle says. He indicated that rebranding the roughly twenty-five vehicles will be a lengthy process.
In the meantime, residents will see a mixture of vehicles from the two former police departments. “You're gonna probably see more Rothchild squad cars in what was formerly the Everest Metro jurisdiction,” said VanDeWalle. “And likewise, you're gonna see more Everest metro vehicles in the Rothchild jurisdiction.”
Touting the benefits of the merger, VanDeWalle and Gebert said that the larger police department allows for greater degrees of specialization. As an example, VanDeWalle said that a portion of the new department will be working with the FBI. VanDeWalle didn’t elaborate on what that involved.
Gebert explained that the new department will allow more officers to focus on specializations such as detective, SWAT or K-9. She added that the larger department also increases promotion opportunities for employees.
Gebert and VanDeWalle acknowledged that this was the first time either of them had worked on a police department merger, but credited their success to the close partnership between the two municipalities. “Constant back-and-forth communication has been key throughout this entire process,” said VanDeWalle. “Jami, along with Mark [Maloney] their village president, have been excellent to work with.”
When asked about the possibility of further collaboration between their two respective municipalities, Gebert and VanDeWalle said that although there are no immediate plans for further collaboration, they agreed that both municipalities are open to it and will be looking for further opportunities. “We both recognize that we're stronger when we work together,” Gebert said.
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