Every night at the end of his shift, Ingham County Sheriff’s Deputy Jason Hedger turns on his solid blue cruise lights and slowly drives through the Village of Webberville’s residential neighborhoods.
He looks over the houses as he passes, watching for anyone who seems out of place or doors that were left open, checking in with residents as needed.
Above all, he is trying to be visible.
“If something is going on, they know all they’ve got to do is open the door, run, scream or whatever, and I’m right there,” Hedger said.
“I put a lot of miles on cars because I’m always in this car, and I’m always out here.”
Hedger is one of two deputies assigned to the Ingham County Sheriff’s Office’s dedicated Webberville office.
The village has contracted with the county for police services for more than 30 years.
But with costs on the rise, Webberville Village Council members are considering re-establishing its own police department for the village of around 1,300 residents, with a vote possible as soon as this week.
‘The premium cost of a premium service'
Village President Sam Schulte said the current three-year contract, which began in 2024 and expires in December, included a 5% annual increase. Under the sheriff’s office’s proposed three-year renewal, increases would be at 8% per year.
Undersheriff Andrew Bouck said the annual increases stem from rising retirement and health insurance costs, as well as other expenses, like increasing gas prices.
At those rates, the village could see its police costs rise from about $343,000 when it started its current contract in 2024 to nearly $477,000 by the end of the proposed renewal in 2029.
Continuing the contract would mean about a quarter of the village’s $1.6 million budget next year would be dedicated to police, Schulte said.
The two deputies provide 80 hours of service per week. Schulte said the cost per officer, about $204,000 in 2027, is significantly higher than in some nearby communities.
In Williamston, which has a department of 6.5 officers, the cost is about $154,000 per officer, or $998,000 total. In Perry, with four officers, it’s about $100,000 per officer, for a total of $398,000.
Schulte estimated Webberville could run its own department for about $107,500 per officer, or $215,000 total – about half the cost of the contract with the sheriff’s office.
First-year costs would be higher due to startup expenses, such as buying and outfitting patrol cars and other equipment, potentially pushing the initial budget to about $277,000.
Over 10 years, Schulte estimated a village department could save about $3.48 million. That assumes a total cost of $2.45 million to operate the department with 3% annual increases over the next decade, compared to $5.92 million to contract with the county with 8% annual increases.
“This discussion is really focused around decisions that this board is going to have to make regarding our financial budget and whether or not the cost, the premium cost of a premium service, is what’s best for us as taxpayers,” Schulte said.
Schulte said the only way the village could afford an expensive contract would be to keep delaying infrastructure projects or raise taxes, which he said hasn’t been done in about 20 years.
“If you talk to any long-term residents of the village, they’ll tell you the water’s not great, the roads aren’t great. We need to be fixing these things,” Schulte said. “We used to do one road a year, and now it seems like we’re doing a road every other year or every third year.”
The village would aim to have its department fully operational by the second half of 2027. In the interim, Schulte said the village would continue being served by the Ingham County Sheriff’s Office—but without dedicated deputies; instead, it would rely on the out-county road patrol to respond to calls for service.
Nearby rural communities face similar situations
Stockbridge Township has been through a similar change, Supervisor C.G. Lantis said.
The township relied on the sheriff’s office’s out-county road patrol until last year, when it began a one-year trial contract with the Village of Stockbridge Police Department.
In August, 70.6% of voters rejected a property tax to continue funding the three dedicated officers at a cost of about $650,000, compared to 29.4% who voted in favor of the millage.
“It wasn't because they didn't like the police and they didn't like what was happening. What they didn't like was more taxes,” Lantis said. “That's the bottom line. … The citizens said, ‘No way, we get taxed to death out here in Stockbridge, just like Webberville.’”
The $650,000 figure works out to about $216,667 per officer, in line with what the sheriff’s office offered Webberville.
Stockbridge Village Manager J. Pat Turner said Webberville asked about contracting with the Stockbridge Police Department, but the department quoted a figure similar to the county’s: around $400,000 for 80 hours of dedicated service a week.
Webberville also asked Meridian Township about contracting with its police department, which already serves Williamstown Township under a contract through next year.
Williamstown Township will pay Meridian Township nearly $361,000 for 80 hours of dedicated police service next year, or about $180,347 per officer.
Meridian Township indicated it is not interested in expanding to Webberville, Schulte said.
Some concerns fueled by village size and history
Some residents at the Village Council’s Sept. 28 public hearing on the proposal questioned how the village would maintain coverage when officers get sick, take vacation, retire or leave for other jobs, or when equipment, such as a patrol car, gets damaged and needs to be repaired or replaced.
“The chief’s not going to pick it up and do 80 hours,” Hedger said. “Or the chief’s gone … now you have just your police officer that’s down here. He’s not going to give you 80 hours. You might do a little overtime, but your coverage is completely gone again.”
Hedger noted that the sheriff’s office has additional deputies and patrol cars that can be rotated in as needed to fill any gaps, while the village would be on its own.
Schulte said part-time officers and reserves could feasibly be worked into the budget for an internal police department while still coming out ahead financially.
“I believe the range that we’ve put together in the preliminary budget affords us that flexibility,” Schulte said. “There’s still a lot of decisions that would have to be made in terms of operating structure, and I think that’s excellent feedback that, if we move forward, we would have to consider.”
Schulte said the village has never had concerns about the quality of service it receives from the sheriff’s office, though he said continuity could be better, with deputies rotating every few years.
But having its own department would also allow the village to step up enforcement of local ordinances.
“We can put up signs, but signs generally only keep honest people honest,” Schulte said.
Village Councilmember Mike McEwan said he is concerned about the increased liability and oversight responsibilities the village would take on as it tries to replace the institutional knowledge and administrative apparatus that larger established departments provide.
The concerns proved especially potent for some Webberville residents who remember when the village did have its own police department.
Archives of the Lansing State Journal show the village dissolved its previous police department in the early 1990s amid allegations of police intimidation and misconduct.
“If you have a small group of people, it’s a lot easier to just not do the right things,” Hedger said. “You get a small group of people, which is just a chief and a cop, you don’t have anybody for anybody to answer to.”
But Schulte said times have changed in three decades.
“It’s not just oversight from myself; it’s oversight from the board, and it’s oversight from the community,” Schulte said. “In 2026, we have things like body cameras, and virtually everybody has a cell phone and a camera in their pocket.”
Compounding the concerns about liability and oversight, Hedger said the village would most likely attract recent police academy graduates who lack the practical experience he said can only be gained in the field.
“You get the kid that’s right out of the academy and don’t have the person to train them correctly, now you’re going to put yourself up for lawsuits,” Hedger said.
That could also make it difficult to retain talent, Hedger said, because new recruits will likely want to attend trainings that the village may not be prepared to fund.
Even without lawsuits, Hedger said, it could affect the quality of service the village receives.
While responding to a wellness check at the home of an elderly woman, Hedger asked if he could get her a glass of water.
Afterward, he explained questions like that are a way for him to assess whether she’s capable of living by herself or has any necessary support without asking directly.
It’s an example of the situational awareness a new officer who hasn’t been in that situation might not have picked up yet, Hedger said.
“You learn this job as you’re doing it,” Hedger said. “I don’t know how many trainings that you can go to, you can never really get the feel for an actual call until you do it.”
Schulte said the village would be looking for “somebody who wants to build something, somebody who wants to really be a pillar within the community and develop deep, strong relationships with students at the school, members of this community, somebody who's not going to treat this as just a stepping stone in their career.”
Hedger said the department would also likely attract retirees who he said might not be as proactive.
While serving on the out-county road patrol last year, Hedger said, he initiated about 1,200 traffic stops, most of which resulted in tickets.
Schulte noted that revenue from tickets issued by the sheriff’s office is not shared with the village.
The village would be able to capture some of those funds with its own police department, though Schulte said he doesn’t want to see Webberville “become known as a speed trap community.”
'You learn the compassion portion of it'
Hedger said his traffic enforcement is not about the revenue or raising drivers’ insurance rates.
Last month in Williamston, he responded to a crash in which a 64-year-old woman driving a Ford Explorer struck a 12-year-old boy and his 13-year-old sister as they rode bicycles on the shoulder of Grand River Avenue.
Both children were wearing helmets. The boy, Calvin Shepard, was pronounced dead at the scene, while his sister, Karalee Shepard, died five days later.
Police are investigating the crash. No charges have been announced.
“When you see that kind of tragedy that happens to families, it really hits home with you, especially when you’re a dad,” Hedger said.
Hedger has seven kids ranging in age from 2 to 23, including a son who would have been 13 years old but died of sudden infant death syndrome at 9 months.
“When you lose a kid, or you see something like that happen to somebody, and it’s a traffic related incident, those are things that us as law enforcement are out here that we should be able to try to prevent,” Hedger said. “That’s why I do a lot of traffic enforcement. Not to help insurance companies.”
Hedger said in cases involving the death of a child, he tries to connect the parents with resources, including groups that can provide financial support.
“I try to use that to better myself on a daily basis,” Hedger said of his experience. “You learn the compassion portion of it.”
Some of Hedger’s stops that don’t end in tickets involve new drivers who just got their licenses. In those cases, Hedger said, he will sometimes talk to the parents and ask what they want to do before offering the option of a written assignment instead of a ticket.
“I’m a dad first, cop second,” Hedger said.
Hedger said his mother had known he wanted to be a police officer since he was a child. But when she died shortly after he graduated from high school, and he had his second child around the same time, those plans were put on hold until about four years ago, when the sheriff's office put some corrections officers through the police academy.
“I struggle on a daily basis. You go through days where you’re upset, you’re crying, you know, get tears in your eyes, and you go to calls, like the one in Williamston, that really hits home and is really hard on you,” Hedger said.
While living with those losses is still difficult, Hedger said, the experiences inform his policing.
“You try to use all the stuff that’s happened in your life, and I try to use that to be a better cop, to get out here and be empathetic towards people, to try to understand what they’re going through, and I can, through a lot of it, try to help them with whatever they got going and try to do what I can,” Hedger said.
He said he fears that kind of community policing could be traded away for lower costs.
“You’ve got to remember, people that call 911 for a cop, it's their worst day,” Hedger said. “They’re not calling you because they want to say, ‘Hey, I want to say hi to a cop; hi, Deputy Hedger.’ Usually, they're calling you because they're, at that moment, having the worst time of their life or worst time of their day.”
Ultimately, Hedger and Schulte both noted that the sheriff’s office would still serve Webberville when there are emergencies, even if it’s not with dedicated service.
That makes the decision to re-establish a village department low-risk and high-reward, Schulte said.
“We could treat this as a trial period for us to make the investment in ourselves and in our community to try to build this,” Schulte said. “If it doesn't work out, we can try to recoup some of those losses by selling off some of those investments; you know, a car, equipment, things of that nature. And there's no doubt in my mind that the county would be happy to reinstall services."
"So, the way I view it, why not at least try?”
Interview Transcript
Sophia Saliby: The village of Webberville is considering reestablishing its own police department after more than three decades. That's as the cost of contracting with the Ingham County Sheriff's Office for service has increased.
WKAR's Andrew Roth did a ride along with one of two sheriff's deputies assigned to Webberville. Andrew joins me now to break down this story. Thank you for being here.
Andrew Roth: Thank you for having me, Sophia.
Saliby: So, what is Webberville considering, and why is this all coming up now?
Roth: As you mentioned, the village has contracted with the county for more than three decades to receive dedicated police service from the sheriff's office. They have two deputies who are dedicated to Webberville, providing about 80 hours of service per week. But that contract is set to expire at the end of this year.
The proposed three-year renewal would see the rate of annual price hikes go up from 5% every year, to an 8% increase every year. So that means the total annual cost could rise from about $343,000 when the current contract began in 2024 to nearly $477,000 by the end of the proposed renewal in 2029.
Village President Sam Schulte says the village could only afford that cost by raising taxes or postponing infrastructure projects.
Sam Schulte: If you talk to any long-term residents of the village, they'll tell you, you know, the water's not great, the roads aren't great. We need to be fixing these things. And 20 years ago, we used to do a road a year, right? That's what everybody says. We used to do one road a year, and now it seems like we're doing a road every other year or every third year.
Roth: Schulte estimates the village could run its own department for about half the cost.
Saliby: So this agreement has been in place for 30 years. Weberville used to have its own police department before that. Why did they end up outsourcing police to the county to begin with?
Roth: I asked Schulte about that, and he made a vague reference to rumors of conduct that was potentially criminal in nature. Lansing State Journal archives from 1993 show the department was dissolved amid allegations of police intimidation and misconduct, but details beyond that are somewhat scarce.
Oversight is a big concern for some of the residents who remember that original police department. It can be harder to provide oversight of a small department with only two people, compared to the sheriff's office, where they have this, you know, big administrative apparatus already built up.
But Schulte says times have changed in a way that everyone can provide oversight, since we all carry cameras with us in the form of our cell phones.
Saliby: And does Webberville have a problem with the service they're receiving from the sheriff's office? Is that another part of this?
Roth: No. Schulte has made it clear that for the village, this is really just about financial sustainability. He says the village doesn't have any complaints with the quality of service they've received, other than maybe the rotation of deputies every few years. That's the case for Deputy Jason Hedger, who was just recently assigned to Webberville a few weeks ago.
I did a ride along with Hedger, where he showed me how he ends most shifts by turning on his solid blue cruise lights and slowly driving through the residential areas of Webberville to see if anyone forgot to close their front door or maybe their garage.
Hedger said that he's always wanted to be a police officer, but when his mom died shortly after he graduated high school, and he had his second kid around the same time, those plans had to take a back seat. But he says that experience, as well as the loss of one of his seven kids who died at nine months old, informs his policing.
Jason Hedger: You try to use all the stuff that's happened to your life, and I try to use that to be a better cop to get out here and be empathetic towards people to try to understand what they're going through, and I can through a lot of it.
Roth: That connection to the community by officers who show they care about its residents might be part of why some village members are hesitant to change things up.
Saliby: So, there is that local connection. You know, what have other nearby communities that are smaller done. Do they work with the Ingham County Sheriff's Office or do they handle their own policing?
Roth: Stockbridge Township had relied on the sheriff's out county patrol for a number of years, but they did a one-year trial contracting service from the village of Stockbridge's police department. But earlier this year, more than two-thirds of voters rejected a millage to continue that contract.
Township Supervisor C. G. Lantis said it's because people couldn't afford another property tax.
C.G. Lantis: The citizens said, "No way. We get taxed to death out here in Stockbridge, just like Webberville."
Roth: Webberville asked the village of Stockbridge about possibly contracting with that department, but the department offered a quote that was in line with what the sheriff's office was offering.
Meanwhile, Williamstown Township contracts with Meridian Township at a rate that's also similar to those proposals.
Schulte says they also asked Meridian Township, but the township isn't interested in expanding to Webberville.
Saliby: Alright, that was WKAR's Andrew Roth. Thank you for being here, Andrew.
Roth: Always happy to join you, Sophia.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
