Park district mulls police contract
The Springfield Park District is eying a deal with the Sangamon County sheriff’s office to provide police protection in parks.
The sheriff’s office has given the district a proposal to provide police coverage in parks at an annual cost of nearly $633,000. In addition to a half-dozen deputies, the sheriff’s office would provide a detective.
“We did a detailed analysis of the anticipated costs,” says chief deputy Joe Roesch. “There was a ton of work that went into this.”
The proposal comes after the Springfield Police Department last fall offered to patrol parks at an annual cost of more than $780,000. Park board president Leslie Sgro has authorized Laimutis “Limey” Nargelenas, acting chief of the district’s troubled police force, to negotiate with the city and county and bring the best proposals back to the board for consideration.
The park police force has been in turmoil for years, with current staffing down to Nargelenas, who isn’t a permanent employee, and two full-time officers to patrol the district’s 43 facilities. The park district has said that tight budgets have been an issue in fielding a police force. Both the city and the county say their proposals would allow for around-the-clock police coverage.
In addition to providing patrol deputies and a detective, the county proposal would put Tasers in the hands of officers assigned to patrol parks, something that current park police don’t have in their arsenal.
The proposal comes after a series of incidents within the park district’s police department (“Law EnFARCEment,” June 11, 2015). Shortly after Illinois Times last year reported on such incidents as an officer firing an assault rifle inside police headquarters and squabbles within the ranks that pitted a captain, who has resigned, against rank-andfile officers, the park board commissioned a study of the park police department that documented numerous shortcomings, including deficient training and outdated policies and procedures.
Nargelenas prepared the study, which came with a recommendation that the district keep its own department and double staffing levels, which would amount to a 51-percent increase in policing costs. That’s an option that’s still on the table, according to park district officials who say that no decision has been made on whether to keep the park police department or contract with an outside agency.
“We’re open to all considerations right now,” said park board trustee Robin Schmidt. “But we are still actively negotiating with the county and the city. A lot of this is going to come down to a numbers game, whether or not we can financially support this new level of service. … We have to do something to get us to the capacity that the (Nargelanas) study suggested.”
The park district now has a tax levy devoted to providing police service that brings in more than $400,000 a year, said Derek Harms, park district executive director. If the district increases the amount now spent on police services, it will have to decrease the amount spent on other district programs or services, he said.
Harms said there is no timeline for deciding whether to establish a contract for police services. If the district contracts with an outside agency to provide police coverage, both Harms and Schmidt said that they would like to see the district’s two current officers be given a chance to remain on patrol.
“It would be our hope that our officers would get on with whatever…agency we partner with,” Harms said.
Schmidt said that she believes that a detective is “absolutely necessary” for the park district. A detective, she said, could take a proactive approach in addressing vandalism, assaults and burglaries.
While the county’s proposal includes a detective, Roesch said that the sheriff’s office doesn’t contemplate assigning a detective to handle park matters on a full-time basis. He added that the sheriff’s office prepared a proposal in response to an inquiry from the park district.
“They came to us and asked what it would cost if we were to do it,” Roesch said. “At no point did we solicit the park district.”
Contact Bruce Rushton at [email protected].
