COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – Branch County Sheriff John Pollack and Branch County Commissioners are sort of sniping at each other about the Sheriff spending money to send one of his deputies to a sniper training school. When County budget cuts eliminated the Sheriff’s Department Road Patrol at the beginning of 2013, the layoffs of 8 deputies included the two hostage negotiations sniper trained members of the force.
Sheriff Pollack last month signed up one of his current deputies to get the necessary training to start to get the department back up to speed. This week, the Sheriff was questioned about the expenditure by County Board Finance Committee Chairman Commissioner Rod Olney. He said with the Michigan State Police available at basically no cost to handle those duties, is it wasn’t necessary for Branch County to spend the local dollars for such services that don’t seem to be needed very often.
Pollack, however, pointed to the example of a hostage situation last summer that developed at the Lion’s Den adult entertainment center near I-69 and Jonesville Road. According to Pollack, it was between an hour and an hour and a half before the State Police Tactical Unit arrived and was in position to take over the situation.
Pollack stressed he wasn’t complaining about that but reminded Commissioners the call has to be made to Lansing before the specialized help can get ready to respond and that’s assuming they’re not tied up with some other critical matter. Pollack said he feels he’s responsible to have somebody that can respond immediately.
The deputy who will attend the training school will be using his own personal certified weapons and the $700 tuition is money that is already in the Sheriff’s Department budget for this year.
