City to police itself in ‘18
By Suzanne Werre
Editor
The city of Turtle Lake is entering 2018 with no regular police coverage from the McLean County Sheriff’s Department.
The department will still respond to emergency calls, according to McLean County Sheriff JR Kerzmann, but following the Turtle Lake City Commission’s decision this past summer to not renew the police contract for 2018, there will be no more regular patrols and no responses for nuisances such as dogs on the loose, late-night parties, noise, etc.
“If anything happens within the city limits, if it’s something we did normally handle, they’re going to have to figure out something, how they’re going to enforce it,” said Kerzmann.
The city will need to rely on someone within the city to enforce its ordinances, said Kerzmann, although, he reiterated, the Sheriff’s Department will still respond to emergency calls.
Kerzmann also said he wasn’t expecting the city to completely end its contract with the department.
“I was pretty surprised,” said Kerzmann. “I could see if they had wanted to cut back a few hours.”
