Small town police stations are becoming a thing of the past. With all of the administrative duties that departments are responsible for more and more stations are contracting the work out to local county sheriff's offices. NBC26 visited the village of Denmark as they make the same transition.
With only two officers at the Denmark police station the load and responsibilities are heavy for their undersized team. As their chief plans to retire at the end of the month they are preparing for a major change for the village.
Since the 70's the local police department has kept the order in Denmark. But there's a new sheriff coming to town, the Brown County Sheriff's department to be precise.
"They are now employees of the county versus employees of the village," says Greg Mleziva the Village President explaining the new role the village’s officers will be playing.
Two full time Brown County Deputies will be patrolling the streets come January first after Chief Ron Towns retires.
"We've hung on longer than some communities have," says Chief Towns.
But it's not the first time that smaller communities in northeast Wisconsin have contracted the work out to the county.
"They've contracted with Bellevue and Allouez and Howard," says Chief Towns.
Moving forward all administrative responsibilities for the department will no longer be on the shoulders of the villages’ two person team. They will have the resource of the Brown County Sheriff’s Office to handle that.
"They were just better equipped to handle our needs," adds Mleziva.
The move will ultimately free up this village’s future law enforcement to get back on the streets and out of the office.
The Chief made it clear to NBC26 today that he thinks that Brown County will do an excellent job in the village of Denmark. But he also said that he would like to see the village bring back a permanent police department down the road.
