So now it will take them LONGER than three hours to arrive when someone fires a bullet into your house? Neat.

This is a fail by both our local and county leaders. Thanks for the reduced service.

Great move. We don't need a full time deputy in Hartland.

Dropping the contract reduces the township's spending by 8%. How about dropping property taxes by 8% now? Or spend it in some way that we actually get some value for our money.

So it takes hours for them to respond to a non-emergency, report taking call. So what?

Put another way, the 40% increase the sheriff wanted to continue coverage amounts to a nearly 4% increase in township expenditures. Do you want your taxes to go up 4% for this single service - or down 8%?

I can't even imagine what a dedicated deputy does in Hartland from 11pm to 6am. Why on Earth would we pay for that?

Sorry Eagle, I disagree with the fact they have nothing to do at night.

Sometimes the worst things happen between those hours and I know this from personal experience when there was a break-in our neighborhood while the people were home. The deputy responded right away with a K9 unit not far behind. Luckily, there was no one hurt and while no one was apprehended that night, someone who did other similar break-ins in nearby subs was later caught, again thanks, I believe, to have the additional police presence in our area.

In addition, consider . . .
• Every few months or so our sub or the subs around us hear reports about break-ins to cars.
• We also have two 24-hour stores that already have problems with shoplifters.
• A year or 2 ago, We had a serial robber who was busting in the back doors of many of our local businesses late at night. The sheriff's department cracked that case.

Additionally, during the day . . .
• We've had a bank robbery (where the person was later caught and convicted).
• Our school system, which is for the most part top notch, nevertheless has had problems with bomb threats, drugs and minor incidents of violence in recent years. (It's a large school and such activity should be expected).

So, while I think it's debatable how this cost should be shared, I definitely think there's a need for the deputy and we've got our money's worth while we've had it.

We need a full time deputy in Hartland, and now there handing out Liquor Licenses like candy which spells more trouble! Friday and Saturday nights would be a great start.

We have been robbed 4 times since 1990 when we moved here and every time it took hours for a officer to show up, when it happens to you you will change your mind! We also had someone shooting at a road sign and a bullet took out a window of a car in the driveway with a child sitting in it and it still took hours. We don't live in a perfect world!

Like candy? Really?

The county or state police send a car if there's an emergency. It's a lot of money for a seldom used service. I've lived here over 20 years. Never called the police. Having take hours for a deputy to come and take a report is fine. It doesn't change anything if they come in ten minutes, or ten hours. Other townships are somehow surviving without dedicated coverage. I'm guessing the dedicated coverage really isn't dedicated anyway. What, if there's a need in Howell, and our deputy isn't doing anything, they don't send him? Of course they do, that how you wound up with long waits. We're subsidizing the rest of the county.

Never owned a gun but it looks like time to think about buying one if it takes that long for police to show up in a emergency. I guess its more about saving money than keeping our familys safe.

Who said anything about it taking long in an emergency? If you're worried about keeping your family safe, you wouldn't buy a gun, because you or your family are far more likely to be shot or killed by one than a bad guy.

Don Read the Press Argus today, it needs to be a major crime or a major accident or major emergency. Your emergency wasn't major enough! Of course once you dead its no longer a emergency but maybe a major crime?

After talking with several of the deputies, they are stretched so thin, it is very uncommon for them to be able to spend a sizable amount of time in Hartland or Tyrone. Those guys work their butt's off, kudos to them, however, the townships just don't get their return on investment. I would be interested in seeing if Oakland County could provide a better deal, they have much more staffing, and, I believe, more technology and training.

Czeck Your right guilty as charged for not reading the whole post. Bad habbit. Don

Now there will be layoffs of Livingston county sheriff officers, WAY TO GO HARTLAND TOWNSHIP. Time to vote you out next election and lay you off!

Brighton and green oak townships don't pay for dedicated officers either. The board did the right thing. Excellent work, hartland township. It's just too much money.

Hartland Eagle, I think you mean Genoa Twp. Green Oak, actually, has its own department (and a population of 17,000, BTW . . . not much more than Hartland).

Still, I think something that's missing from this argument is geography fits. Brighton Twp. and Genoa Twp. both benefit from the closeness of other departments that can quickly come to their aid. Brighton Twp. has the state police post inside it with Brighton city PD and Green Oak PD minutes away while Genoa is sandwiched between Brighton and Howell (another place with its own PD). In contrast, Hartland is much farther from these areas and would lose out, IMHO, without a dedicated patrol more so than both Brighton and Genoa Twps.

I do fault our township officials for not working things out with the county, but the county is to blame here, as well. Officials have attended meetings but don't talk. That's a problem that could spill over into other issues (if already it hasn't).

What's important is providing service at a reasonable cost and there's still time to work something out, but this playing chicken type of politics is a problem.