Newcomerstown council weighing police protection options
NEWCOMERSTOWN (WJER) (Feb. 12, 2025) – Officials are facing a difficult decision about the future of policing in the village.
Mayor Pat Cadle led a community meeting Tuesday evening to explain the options for maintaining protection in response to what could become a mass exodus within the police department. It started last week when the chief and an officer handed in their resignations, which then caused others to follow suit.
“I started talking to the employees to see what they were really thinking, and that’s where we found out some of them didn’t want to go out of those four we have left. They wanted to stay but they thought if we were gonna disband, ‘Why stay? We gotta cover ourselves.’ And it’s understandable. They’re trying to look out for their own livelihood. Some of them have families with young kids.”
Cadle says they could offer substantial raises to make staying more enticing, but even that isn’t a guaranteed fix.
“We still might lose two more, and it’s all to Coshocton. The interesting part is Coshocton’s mayor is the one that called me first, and he said, ‘Don’t let it happen if you can help it because once you lose it, you’ll never get it back.’”
The sheriff’s office could provide two full-time deputies for less than half the cost of staffing an independent police department with a chief, two dispatchers, and six officers.
Cadle expects a vote on which route to take at next Monday’s council meeting. If members want to try to retain the police force, Larry Dusenberry will serve as acting chief until they hire a permanent leader. There are five candidates vying for the position that pays up to $70,000 annually depending on experience.
UPDATE: Sheriff Orvis Campbell says some of the statements made during the meeting were inaccurate including that deputies can’t enforce village ordinances and wouldn’t be available to police festivals and parades. He also says he never told Cadle that the village couldn’t have more than two deputies.