Madison Heights

City approves agreement for joint police taskforce

By Jeremy Adragna
C & G Staff Writer

MADISON HEIGHTS — A special police unit with members from Madison Heights, Hazel Park, Royal Oak and Ferndale will continue to be funded, officials announced last week.

On Oct. 8, City Council approved an agreement between the member cities that will continue to fund the Southeast Oakland County Crime Suppression Task Force. The plan formalizes the taskforce for the first time in its 10-year history.

“CSTF has been very successful in meeting its goals,” Madison Heights Police Chief Kevin Sagan wrote to City Council, “and assisting agencies’ detectives in addressing criminal activity through surveillance, detection and criminal apprehension.”

The group also includes officers from the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office and Michigan State Police, which are in charge of the taskforce’s operations.

“The Police Department has been working with that unit ever since it was set up with a grant,” said City Manager Jon Austin. “We’re all funding it now. They never formalized themselves as a group, but they continued to function.”

Austin said a number of concerns arose in recent years about the structure of the special taskforce. An advisory panel approved a plan in recent weeks to create a so-called “interlocal agreement,” which outlines the group’s structure and the responsibilities of the member cities.

“The question has come up about everybody’s responsibilities for insurance and things like that,” said Austin. “The best way to formalize the group would be to establish an ‘interlocal agreement.’ Nothing changes other than we’ve created an agreement.”

Under the plan, each member-city must provide the taskforce with one officer, a police vehicle and all the accoutrements that the officer might need to perform his duties.

Austin dismissed the idea that the agreement is another attempt at joining services between cities in southeastern Oakland County. The group has been operating since 1997, Austin said, and the agreement is not connected to plans to join the fire departments of these same member-cities.

The cities of Madison Heights, Hazel Park and Ferndale approved an agreement in September to work jointly on fire suppression efforts for the next year, a possible precursor to a full regionalization of fire services.

Royal Oak city officials decided not to join the fire department agreement and will instead watch the plan in action during the next year.

No such plan has been presented for a joint police force.

The Southeast Oakland County Crime Suppression Task Force was originally formed with federal funds awarded to the member cities by a U.S. Department of Justice grant. The grant was awarded through the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Jeremy Adragna at jadragna@candgnews.com or at (586)279-1101.