1 Cop For Every 3 Residents; Judge Will Consider Suit That Challenges Police Force Grown Too Large

OAKLEY, Mich. (AP) - A Saginaw County judge will consider a dispute next week over whether a small town did or didn't abolish its police department after the chief let the force grow so large that it had one auxiliary officer for every three residents.

The case follows the Oakley Village Council's vote Sept. 9 to halt patrols after police lost their insurance. Days later, Chief Robert Reznick resumed patrols after obtaining a privately financed insurance policy.

The village is about 75 miles northwest of Detroit and had 290 residents in the 2010 U.S. Census. It has 12 sworn officers and about 100 reserve officers, who live around the state. As reserve police officers, they're allowed under Michigan law to carry firearms into areas where the public is banned from doing so.

Village Trustee Francis Koski has sued to block what he calls a "rogue police department" from operating. The case gets a hearing Oct. 7 in Saginaw County Circuit Court.

"They're out of control," Koski told The Detroit News . "They seem to think they don't need to have any council approval."

Reznick said he acted with the permission of Sue Dingo, the Village Council's president pro tem, when he restarted the patrols.

"You like to believe I'm running rampant, doing everything on my own. That's not the case," the chief said.

Needed or not to keep the peace, the auxiliary officers play a big role in funding police operations, the newspaper said. It said their donations cover the village's $38,000 police budget and help fund other government operations.

But the idea of such a large force for a small town raised concerns about liability at the Michigan Municipal League, which canceled the village's insurance in July. Oakley obtained a new policy, apparently not realizing that it excluded police. After that fact became known, the council voted 5-1 to disband the department.

That decision left the county sheriff and state police responsible for public safety.

Koski, who also sued over the legality of the replacement policy that the village obtained in July, said he hopes the court will end the confusion over who's in charge in Oakley and whether the police chief and Dingo overreached their authority.

"I'm just at the point where I'd like the judge to make a decision: Does she run the town by herself?" said Koski. "Should the rest of the council just go home?"

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