Four Livingston County Townships and Howell Public Schools could enter into an agreement with the Livingston County Sheriff's Office that would increase police presence in their communities.
If approved by all parties, including LCSO, the sheriff's office would assign a deputy to specifically patrol Genoa, Oceola, Marion, and Howell Townships, as well as Howell Public Schools.
Genoa Township already signed onto the agreement by voting unanimously to support the contract at a June 20 meeting. Township Supervisor Bill Rogers said it’s a good opportunity for the townships to partner together to enhance safety.
“This is our community, and we want to make sure that we can do as many things as possible to make it safe for all of our folks in the entire area,” he said.
Rogers said the deputy would help enforce code and traffic violations in the townships while traveling between schools, adding that the presence of law enforcement in the wake of school shootings at Oxford High School and Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX, is another added benefit of the contract.
“We’ve seen what has happened at some schools around the United States, so ironically the timing of this happens to work out extremely well when we’re talking to our staff, the school staff and everyone else,” he said.
The agreement between the townships, LCSO, and Howell schools would be the first time partnering together to increase police presence.
Each township would kick in $25,000 and Howell Public Schools would invest $50,000 to fund the one-year contract. If agreed to by all parties, Rogers said an officer would ideally be assigned before school starts this fall.
