Cross Plains public safety committee hears police annual report emphasizing staffing and rising calls for service

The Village of Cross Plains Public Safety Committee on March 18 received the police department’s annual report and discussed persistent staffing shortfalls, higher call volume and traffic enforcement increases. The committee voted to forward a recommendation to the Village Board on one operational-hours request and to forward the department’s annual report as information.

The Police Chief (name not specified) told the committee that department call volume totaled 4,247 calls for the year and that call volumes have risen roughly 158% compared with pre‑chief levels. “Our call volume total is 4,247 calls on the year,” the chief said, and added that the department covers 24 hours about “75% of the time” because of staffing shortages. The chief said officers worked significant overtime and that the department’s operating budget is about $735,000.

The nut graf: The discussion centered on whether the village can fund additional officers as development and population growth increase demand for policing and other public safety services. Committee members were asked to consider tradeoffs between hiring, the tax levy and possible use of state shared revenue or a referendum to fund positions.

In the body of the meeting the chief reviewed statistics included in the written annual report. Among the figures cited: record-check requests rose from 10 in early 2020 to about 88 in the latest year; 911 “disconnect” calls fell from 142 to 85; property checks and proactive business checks have increased; traffic‑stop totals reached 758 stops; and the department reported issuing only one citation related to a multi‑year program that the chief said could be extended. The chief said staff logged 344 hours of overtime collectively and that the chief personally worked about 290 additional hours last year to cover shifts.

Committee members and staff discussed operational coverage and recruitment. The chief said that current staffing levels do not provide continuous 24‑hour coverage and that Wisconsin law triggers an expectation of 24‑hour coverage once a municipality reaches a population threshold (the chief referenced a 5,000‑resident threshold). The chief described recruiting and retention challenges, the cost of benefits, and the village’s limited part‑time budget (about $12,000) that pays part‑time officers roughly $30 per hour. He said the new police facility is being built to accommodate additional staff — the building could hold about 12 officers — but that the operating funds to pay salaries remain the principal constraint.

Committee discussion touched on growth and infrastructure. Members noted a proposed 450‑home development discussed by staff and that sewer‑plant certification paperwork is being updated; staff said the plant’s papered capacity (about 4,500 on earlier paperwork) may be re‑certified closer to 8,000 people, which would affect the village’s growth prospects and future service demands. The chief said growth timing is uncertain and that planning for future staffing must balance taxpayer impacts.

Two formal recommendations were recorded by the committee for transmission to the Village Board. First, committee members moved and seconded a recommendation to change hours for a longstanding village program to match other communities (the request as discussed would move the program’s hours to 5 a.m. to 10 p.m.). The transcript shows a motion and a second and the chair stated, “That’ll go to the board,” but the committee did not record a roll‑call vote in the transcript. Second, the committee moved to forward the police department’s annual report to the Village Board as information; again the transcript records a motion and a second and no roll‑call tally.

The chief emphasized community engagement and noncriminal public‑service calls as a growing share of workload, including assistance requests, med‑drop box use and business/property checks. The chief also described department initiatives such as an officer wellness program and a small fund to help people displaced by domestic incidents (coordinated with local churches) for short‑term hotel stays or gas assistance.

The committee had no public commenters on the item. Several committee members thanked the chief for the report and signaled support for discussing funding options — including the possibility of a referendum or other funding mechanisms — before committing to new officer positions.

The meeting concluded with the committee chair asking staff to present follow‑up materials at the next meeting and the committee forwarding the two recommendations to the full Village Board for formal consideration.