BELOIT Rock County Sheriff Curtis Fell said his sheriffs office is prepared to provide the Beloit Police Department with four sheriffs deputies a move aimed to help Beloit PD bridge a shortfall in staffing Fell says he thinks could run through the end of 2027.
In an interview Monday, Fell said he already asked Rock County Administrator John Light earlier this year for two extra sheriffs deputies to accommodate the loan to Beloit PD, which he said the sheriffs office has been aware might be a necessity.
Now, Fell says, hes asking Light for two more deputies to backfill for what appears to be a worsening officer shortage for Beloit PD.
By the PDs own count, its almost two-dozen officers short of full staffing.
Fell says his sheriffs office will charge a flat fee for the officers, plus the cost of fuel for deputy patrol vehicles to run in Beloit. He said no one should construe the sheriffs office contracting for law enforcement services as a police takeover in Beloit.
Theyre asking for a couple (of officers) for each shift, Fell said. Were not going to go in there in droves.
The Beloit department has 74 officers budgeted, and its now at a staffing of 55.
In all, Fell said Monday he was prepared for his sheriffs department to augment Beloits police force with four officers giving Beloit two extra officers per shift on the departments busy afternoon and overnight shifts for several months, if not more than a year, and possibly even until the end of 2027, Fell said.
Fell said the contracts come at a cost to the county, because the sheriffs office must backfill its own deputies for the duration of the contract, or any extension to it.
The sheriff said his office automatically and without question is willing to step in to aid the shortfall in Beloit. He called it an obligation to the safety of all Rock County residents.
If we dont go and help, we make everything harder for the citys residents, who are residents of Rock County, Fell said.
The sheriffs deputy contract was tapped as the subject of a closed-session Beloit City Council discussion Monday night. It comes after an announcement late last week that the contract could help Beloit keep the community safe during the emerging officer shortfall.
The police department faces a shortfall of 19 officers, according to the departments own calculation of full staffing.
That washout in officers follows the department saying earlier this year it was hiring more police to fill a shortage of less than 10 officers, according to an analysis by a reporter with the Beloit Daily 69蹤獲, The 69蹤獲s sister publication.
Alongside regular calls, Beloit officers have seen a recent need to respond to serious crimes, including ones playing out in crowded public spaces, in broad daylight.
Earlier this month, a fight at a grocery store parking lot in Beloit played out during mid-afternoon second shift for the PD leaving two men severely beaten and one man apparently stabbed, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Rock County District attorneys office.
Beloit police think the fight broke out after a driver took umbrage over two other drivers who were stopped in the grocery stores parking lot exit, conversing, and blocking traffic. It ended with an elderly man being beaten up after he tried to break up the fight. Fell pointed out that the sheriffs office jumped within the last few days to aid in an arrest of a person fleeing a shooting in Beloit. He said the sheriffs office using Flock cameras to help track and catch the person before they were able to discard evidence, Fell said. Fell said its not the first time the sheriffs office has lent officers to Beloit PD, although the last loan hasnt been since the 2010s. Fell said the sheriffs office agreed to that loan to help combat a spike in violent crime Beloit was seeing at that time not because of an officer shortfall. By comparison, other police departments in Rock County are seeing a brighter staffing picture. According to an analysis by the Beloit Daily 69蹤獲, Janesville Police Department has 105 officers budgeted, with 103 on staff. The analysis shows the nearby Town of Beloit Police Department has 19 officers on staff, plus two part-timers, which that department says it considers full staffing. Other municipal departments near Beloit, including PDs in Clinton and the Town of Turtle, report full staffing. Edgerton and Miltons police departments both report nearly full staffing, with about a dozen officers apiece. Beloit Daily 69蹤獲 Reporter Alex Gary contributed a local police department staffing analysis to this report.