The Athens County Sheriff’s Office covers about 50 times more ground than two Athens city departments, despite having a similar number of employees — and half the funds.
Agreements between the Sheriff’s Office, Athens Police Department and Ohio University Police Department allow Sheriff Pat Kelly and his deputies to utilize the other departments’ manpower when needed, but Kelly doesn’t always chose to do so.
For fiscal year 2012, the Sheriff’s Office’s budget was about $1.66 million, just more than half of OUPD’s 2012-13 budget, about $2.9 million from the university. APD received about $3.6 million from the city, Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle said.
The Athens County Sheriff’s Office covers more than 64,000 residents in the 503.6-square-mile county. APD’s jurisdiction is Athens City’s approximately 10 square miles, with about 24,000 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. OUPD covers all university territory — about 2.89 square miles within the city limits, which includes about 20,200 students, according to spring 2012 statistics.
“When you look at the numbers of residents and students, as opposed to law enforcement, the ratio isn’t where it should be,” Kelly said.
Even though the duties of APD, OUPD and the Sheriff’s Office overlap, Kelly still has asked for more funding from the county to hire an additional deputy.
“I have about 45 (reserve deputies) who have police powers already, and that could be a fire marshal, village marshal or APD, and it gives them jurisdiction outside of their duties,” Kelly said. “APD has their jurisdiction in the city, but if I give them permission, they’re able to work county-wide.
“They’re used very rarely. I usually just use my guys.”
The Sheriff’s Office employs 26 full-time deputies, the same amount as APD, while OUPD employs 25 full-time deputies. For each enforcement office, “deputies” is used to describe chiefs, captains, detectives, lieutenants, D.A.R.E. officers, road deputies and several others.
“I’ve been having meetings with Chief Pyle, Chief Powers and Chief (Jason) Wallace, of the Nelsonville Police Department, and we’re currently addressing the countywide drug problem, which is huge. … We have no problem overlapping jurisdictions,” Kelly said.
Another advantage of having multiple law enforcement offices collaborating in the same county is that they can better address high-risk events, including Number Fest, Athens Mayor Paul Wiehl said.
“Deputies from all over come out to help with safety,” he said. “It comes down to the fact that they’re all dealing with the same problems.”
OUPD Chief Andrew Powers said that despite sharing resources, local law enforcement still seeks help outside the city for upcoming spring fest seasons.
“When we have a really big event, we’re forced to go even beyond the county in order to bring in assistance,” Powers said. “APD brings in about 50 to 75 officers from other agencies outside the city of Athens.”
Powers said the jurisdictions of each department are “concentric.”
The mutual aid agreement in the Ohio Revised Code enables police enforcers to call for help from surrounding police departments and Sheriff’s Offices if needed, Commissioner Lenny Eliason said.
“I think it’s better when they can share resources and work in concert with each other,” he said. “I think they can get more done that way.”
Less commonly, though, OUPD must call upon the Sheriff’s Special Response Team when a case takes the department beyond the university — and the city — corporation limits, Powers said.
“SRT assisted us when we had an employee threaten (the West Union Street Office Center) and (the Human Resources Training Center) a number of years ago,” Powers said. “He lived out in the county, so their team assisted us in serving the search warrant at his house.”
While each office enforces the law, there is never any competition on coverage, and officers from various departments often work together to tackle large-scale crime in Athens, Kelly said.
Though interaction with the Sheriff’s Office is less frequent, OUPD and APD officers collaborate on a day-to-day basis, said Councilman Steve Patterson, D-at large, adding that much of this cooperation is because of the Joint Police Advisory Council, formed in 2011 between APD and OUPD.
Patterson said law enforcement agencies cannot afford to be completely independent.
“In these days where the economy is tight and resources are limited, to be two standalone entities is not advantageous,” Patterson said.
—Samuel Howard contributed to this article.
az346610@ohiou.edu
