Ingham County sheriff agrees to patrol in Lansing

Proposal would allow deputies to conduct road patrols

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Monday, Nov. 28 — Four Ingham County deputies could startpatrolling Lansing streets as early as January, Mayor Virg Bernero announced today.

Ingham County Sheriff Gene Wriggelsworth has agreed to allowfour deputies from his department to conduct traffic patrols within city limits,Bernero said. The deputies, called PA416 deputies, are paid for through statedollars raised from ticket writing and are designated to only do trafficduties, Wriggelsworth said at a press conference.

“Nobody’s getting the shaft here,” Wriggelsworth said ofIngham County residents. “They’re going to get the same quality service at thereduced rate that we’ve had for the last couple years.”

Wriggelsworth said the four deputies don’t answer calls forservice, “so that part of the equation is not going to be changed one bit.”

Bernero praised the proposal, which would free up the PoliceDepartment to assign more officers to other needs, he said. The deputies are to be paid for with statefunds, he added.

“It’s a no-lose proposition for the City of Lansing,”Bernero said. “It allows us to augment the force that is out there. The chiefand I are very receptive to the idea.”

According to state law, the proposal requires approval fromboth the City Council and the Ingham County Board of Commissioners, Bernerosaid. He intends to present the proposal to City Council at its meetingtonight, where he said he expects it to be referred to committee for furtherconsideration. Bernero did not expect any problems getting the proposal passed.

“I imagine that this will be up and running by next year,”Bernero said. “Who could be against having more cops on the street?”

Wriggelsworth said he would pursue county approval once theCity Council approved the proposal.

Previously, state law did not allow county deputies topatrol within Lansing city limits, Wriggelsworth said, but a recent change tothe law now allows county patrols to cross into the city. He stressed that thefour deputies involved in the change only work traffic incidents, not servicecalls.

“They work traffic,” he said. “Whether they work traffic inthe city or Delhi Township or Meridian Township or wherever, it’s traffic. Theydon’t take calls for service. They are traffic deputies only. We would havedone it before, we just weren’t able to.”

Lansing Police hief Teresa Szymanski said details concerninghow often the county deputies will patrol within the city as well as where theywill go will be worked out between her and Wriggelsworth after the plan isapproved.

“It will be when our schedule has them available to workthose duties in the city,” Wriggelsworth said. “It won’t be every day.”

Wriggelsworth has four PA416 — referring to the Public Actthat allows such patrols — deputies on his staff, hesaid. Six are needed for seven-day-a-week coverage. He said he is not expectingto receive any more deputies to help with the increased coverage area.Wriggelsworth also said that most tickets written in Lansing are done throughLansing ordinances, which would continue with the county deputies so the city willreceive the ticket revenue.

Wriggelsworth estimated that the state pays about $113,000per year for each PA416 deputy in his department.

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