Who Will Police Unincorporated Mecklenburg County
CMPD has patrolled the areas, now county commissioners have terminated that agreement, and a new plan will have to take its place
CHARLOTTE, NC — Which departments will provide police services to people living in unincorporated Mecklenburg County is up in the air right now.
For decades, CMPD has patrolled the areas, now county commissioners have terminated that agreement, and a new plan will have to take its place.
“I don’t believe there’s another agency that could provide better services, comprehensive police services, than CMPD. I never have believed that,” said CMPD Chief Kerr Putney.
Chief Putney spoke to Charlotte City Council Monday after county commissioners terminated the contact. It allowed CMPD to patrol unincorporated areas of six cities: Cornelius, Davidson, Matthews, Mint Hill, Pineville and Huntersville.
“What we’re really talking about here, as far as I understand from county commissioners, is Huntersville,” Council Member Ed Driggs, District 7.
Right now, if you live in the county, you pay a tax for police services. Huntersville’s Police Chief Cleveland Spruill says that money would be allocated to city departments to fund services. He wrote, in part, towns not interested in taking over their portion of the county, “…would be free to contract with the Mecklenburg County Sheriff, Huntersville or any of the other Towns to ensure coverage.”
CMPD serves 869,496 people. 60,911 of those are in the county areas. Out of CMPD’s $257 million budget, $18 million of that is for unincorproated county coverage. Once the existing inter-local agreement is cancelled, Huntersville’s Police Chief says $3.1 million would be allocated to Huntersville to provide police services in their county jurisdiction.
The Sheriff’s Office had no comment as the topic is still under discussion.
Mint Hill’s Chief says he’s neutral as long as his department receives funding to cover the area.
At city council, Ed Driggs asked Chief Putney, “Chief, is your ability to provide services everywhere else impaired if Huntersville goes their own way and lives with the consequences?”
Chief Putney said, “Absolutely not.”
Problem is, state lawmakers would have to pass Senate Bill Five. That would give county commissioners the authorty to allow cities to police their portion of the county.
If that doesn’t happen, the city attorney says commissioners will have to sign CMPD again.
