'It's been a challenge'

MLPD continues providing service after lean years

MOSES LAKE — When it has not been cutbacks, it's been resignations. When it's not resignations, it's injuries. When it's not injuries, it's been military leave.

Such has been the challenge at the Moses Lake Police Department during the past two years.

In 2003, then-Chief Fred Haynes called the state of his department close to a barebones operation.

Looking back, current MLPD Chief Dean Mitchell said the department was never close to folding, just "stretched extremely thin."

Two years later the picture has changed some.

Two positions in patrol that had been put on hold in 2003 have been filled. This meant the department spent the last year in catch-up mode, hiring and training the newest officers, which takes about a year.

While at it, officer Beau Montgomery was called up on military leave and three others were sidelined due to injuries. Two of those four spots have been covered, while the other two remain vacant.

"It's been a challenge," Mitchell said, adding that the MLPD has been lucky to have the support of the city council.

"I have been talking to colleagues from other police departments that have experienced cuts and are just trying to keep their head above water," Mitchell said.

The MLPD has managed to keep training its personnel and allowing for vacation and military leave. Montgomery is one of three members of the MLPD on military reserve and one of two to have been called up in the last two years. The other one, Jeff Sursely, returned from Pakistan last year. The department has pledged to remain supportive of its officers going to defend our country, Mitchell said.

Among the goals for 2005, is to keep the staffing to a daily minimum of three officers per shift. An ideal would be six, a mark rarely reached.

"Sometimes we have five," Mitchell said. "Sometimes we have been down to two."

These fluctuations are a reason why the department tries to keep amicable relations with the Grant County Sheriff's Office and the Washington State Patrol. Every day WSP or the GCSO cars patrol the Moses Lake streets alongside the MLPD.

The department provides a school resources officer position currently filled by Officer Juan Rodriguez.

"It's been a struggle," Mitchell said. "Juan is out there juggling those schools by himself, but the (Moses Lake) School District has not complained, so I assume they are satisfied."

When it comes to equipment, the MLPD is doing okay, Mitchell said.

"We have been able to purchase the equipment we need through grants," he said. Trouble is, there are only so many grants left, forcing the department to depend on local donations and city money, of which there is also a finite amount.

The purchase of notebook computers for the patrol cars is the department's latest project. The state legislature has mandated that police departments have a computer program in their vehicles called Rapid Responders, which provides emergency response plans to high schools.

However, the big Olympia mandate does not come with a big Olympia check to pay for anything but the program, sending the MLPD scrambling for money.

"It's typical," Mitchell said, a wry smile crossing his face. "They mandated that the program be made available to us but it's (up to) us to get the computers, install them and train our officers."

The money has come so far from donations and drug seizure monies, which are restricted to be used for drug-trafficking prevention purposes. The rest will have to come from grants, drying up fast and the city, which is still holding its breath every month when sales tax revenues come in.

Despite the troubles, Mitchell remains optimistic about the department he joined in 1979 and at whose helm he has been for less than a year.

"This is an outstanding department," he said. "I would put this department up against any comparable department in the state."