Agreements lead to sharing of resources, services
By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
Whitewater’s municipal police department is pooling its resources with several local law enforcement agencies – including the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Police Department and Walworth County Sheriff’s Department – through a series of recently approved agreements.
The Common Council on March 3 voted to approve five agreements presented by Police Chief Lisa Otterbacher. Many of the agreements revolve around technological upgrades.
The city and university police agencies are entering into an interagency agreement to access the Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Transaction Information for the Management of Enforcement system.
By accessing the system, both agencies will have instantaneous information in a number of areas, ranging from motorists’ histories to criminal cases.
The city also is entering into a five-year mutual agreement with sheriff’s officials to jointly use a telecommunications tower that will be used for the agencies’ radio and dispatching systems.
Another interagency agreement concerns the city’s use of the Walworth County Sheriff’s Department’s firing range and training facility. The city has had such an agreement in place in the past, and it has been renewed.
Whitewater police also will continue using the expertise of the sheriff’s drug enforcement unit on an as-needed basis through a renewal agreement. The unit would be dispatched to assist in cases involving drugs.
Most of the cities and villages throughout Walworth County have agreements in place with the sheriff’s department for drug investigation services.
The final agreement approved recently involves a memorandum of understanding between city police and UW-Whitewater’s agency. The memo concerns responses to call for service on leased property.
The memorandum focuses primarily on a property, the Cambridge Apartments, 375 N. Harmony Lane. UW-Whitewater leases the site for students, and it, technically, is within the city department’s jurisdiction.
The agreement, however, states both agencies have jurisdiction over the apartment complex, meaning officers from either entity can respond to calls there.
