Wausau Police Department. MWC photo by Mike Leischner
The Wausau Finance Committee will consider a pair of funding requests from the city’s police department on Tuesday.
The first involves security fencing around the Police Department parking lot. Officers say there have been numerous incidents where they have been confronted on their way to or from their personal vehicles or while doing a check on their patrol car.
Patrol Lieutenant Luis Lopes Serrao addressed the issue with the Finance Committee at a previous meeting, saying they expect confrontation when patrolling but in times like those they may not be prepared or equipped to handle an escalating situation.
Costs range from $45,000 for all chain-link fencing to $210,000 for all ornamental. Officers would enter through a secure access point. There would also be a pedestrian gate near the main entrance to the building.
The second involves hiring additional officers to focus on issues created by the city’s homeless population, which new Chief Matthew Barnes says are taking up most of his and his officers’ time. Barnes recently told WSAU News that patrol officers deal with issues relating to homelessness multiple times during each shift, both day and night, adding that the goal isn’t to criminalize people who aren’t housed but instead hold everyone to a standard of behavior that’s “acceptable in this community.”
Barnes notes that the problem has grown in the last three months. In his letter to the committee, he notes “The consequences of waiting to implement additional police resources could be catastrophic.”
You can see more regarding the requests in Tuesday’s agenda packet. The meeting begins at 5:30 at City Hall.
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