Letter: Wellington, did you know?

Editor:

Wellington, Did you know?

• The Town of Wellington has a population of almost 7,000 residents and is growing.
• The Town of Wellington has a Town Board that consists of a mayor and six trustees.
• Only six or seven residents regularly attend the Town Board meetings held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month.
• The Town of Wellington does not have a 24/7 police force. The Town of Wellington contracts for part-time “basic law enforcement” services with the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office for $627,000.

Four sheriff’s deputies and one sergeant are assigned to our town, and are contracted to work just over 680 hours a month. With training, court time, vacation and other leave, there are sometimes days when there is no deputy assigned to Wellington. It is unlikely that you will find a deputy patrolling the streets after midnight in our town, and you can watch the day shift deputy driving northbound on I-25 towards Wellington at 7:15 a.m. most mornings.

The crimes that occur after midnight are: vandalism, criminal trespass, disturbances, domestic violence, construction site burglaries, home invasions and DUI. There is more activity in Wellington than ever before.

The three schools in the Town of Wellington do not have a full-time school resource officer assigned to protect our children. The deputy sheriff assigned as a resource officer currently covers eight different schools in the unincorporated areas. There are discussions of Wellington sharing an SRO with the Town of Timnath for an additional $60,000 paid to the Sheriff’s Office.

Last year, two veteran police officers proposed a Town Police Department to the Town Board. The proposed town police department would provide 24/7 coverage with seven police officers. The police department would be controlled locally, and be a visible, community-oriented law enforcement agency. The annual budget of the proposed Town Police Department would be $100,000 less than the contract with the Sheriff’s Office. The proposal includes a police officer assigned full-time as a school resource officer to the Wellington schools; working at the schools every day that our children are there.

The Town of Wellington will be surveying its residents in August for guidance on how to update law enforcement services and ensure public safety in our town. No matter what your politics or affiliations are, please take the survey. It is important that we keep our high quality of life here.

Dan Frazen
Wellington