MSU and East Lansing police will not become one department, but will continue to look for ways to work closely together, officials said Wednesday.
A committee of university and city police officials recommended the departments continue to cooperate in their shared efforts and look to pool their technological resources in the coming years.
But the East Lansing and MSU police departments - with 67 and 62 sworn officers, respectively - appear too large and serve too different of communities to merge together now, the departments’ chiefs said Wednesday.
“It is clear that we haven’t found significant reasons for joining into one agency at this point,” MSU police Chief Bruce Benson said.
The agencies were approached by city and campus officials to discuss possible cost savings and improved services from increased cooperation. The committee of police leadership had been meeting since October.
The two departments already share a jail, 911 dispatch center and shooting range, and combine forces for several special police units.
Benson and East Lansing police Chief Louis Muhn said they intend to continue talking about how to increase cooperation between the departments. The two usually meet once a week, and neither could rule out any future cooperative efforts.
“We’ve identified some other areas where we can do some enhanced cooperative efforts,” Muhn said. “It’s hard to say what the future will bring.”
East Lansing City Manager Ted Staton has said he’s hopeful unifying the departments in the future could improve service and shed some weight from the city police’s $6.8 million budget.
But he acknowledged such a move could take years to align the two agencies policies and procedures.
“Honestly, it’s my hope one day these two departments can be one,” Staton said. “I’m personally optimistic we’re going to be able to move quickly to bring the departments together in a number of other operations.”
The departments were operated together under the East Lansing police chief until about 1950. And although the departments still share similarities, Staton said they do have different focuses.
MSU police monitor a campus of students and faculty with a large population during the day and much smaller population at night, he said, while East Lansing police patrol areas of businesses and large residential neighborhoods.
“It is true the departments police two different types of communities at this point,” Staton said. “Obviously we have no 12-story residential structures filled with 18-, 19- and 20-year-olds.”
But the rise of community policing at both agencies - a philosophy that aims to address crime by building relationships between individual officers and specific neighborhoods - gives Staton hope that one police department could handle covering such a diverse community.
But the recommendations of the two police chiefs, while bringing the departments closer together, will not unify them with one badge.
Instead, potential new partnerships are centered around technology improvements, equipment purchases and training.
MSU and East Lansing police are working to install mobile data computers in patrol cars that can share information with other computers and the station servers. The agencies also could use a linked computer system to share digital photos of prisoners taken to the East Lansing jail or other records.
Some of the efforts may require formal agreements, but the departments have operated jointly on several projects, such as the on-campus shooting range on Jolly Road, with a handshake attitude.
“There’s a long tradition of sharing the range,” Benson said. “There’s been no need to draw up a written contract because it’s worked very well.”
And both chiefs said their officers are quick to back up neighbor officers in need.
“We’ve had a great working relationship with the university and it’s only gotten better,” said Muhn, a 28-year veteran of the East Lansing police. “When we needed assistance, or vice versa, we’re always there for each other.
“I don’t think you’ll find two closer departments in the state.”
