Toledo Ends Police Services in Winlock Earlier Than Expected

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As of Sunday, the Winlock Police Department was officially in charge of all calls and complaints in Winlock.

In a letter dated June 28 from Toledo City Attorney Jim Buzzard, Buzzard wrote in part, “...as all transition items are complete, Toledo will phase out coverage of Winlock commencing July 1, 2018. Toledo will be making changes to its own coverage as well. From this point, Winlock Police Department shall be an independent agency.”

Mayor of Winlock Don Bradshaw declined to comment on Monday. Winlock Police Chief Stephen Valentine did not make himself available to comment.

Toledo Mayor Steve Dobosh said Toledo was only obliged to provide law enforcement services to the city of Winlock until August 15 if the transition took that long, as per the mediation settlement agreement.

“The transition went faster than expected,” Dobosh said. “We didn’t have that much equipment to take back. Everything went really well.”

Toledo Police Chief John Brockmueller announced on Saturday in the closed Facebook Group, “Winlock, WA Community Forum” that Toledo Police Department would no longer provide services to Winlock.

“I want to take a minute to thank the citizens of Winlock for allowing TPD to provide you with the best police service we could during the past couple years,” Brockmueller wrote in part. “I speak for everyone in my department in saying it’s been an honor helping you. As of midnight tonight your Winlock Police Departmrnt (sic) will be handling your calls and complaints. All cases that TPD had answered up until that time will be continued to be investigated by us.”

Brockmueller’s post also informed group members that the city of Winlock was informed and Winlock residents should contact the Winlock Police Department for issues within Winlock city limits.

“I don’t like getting on social media to discuss my job or politics, but I saw citizens of Winlock weren’t being told what was happening,” Brockmueller said of the post in an interview on Monday. “So I just felt it was important that they knew what was going to happen.”

Brockmueller said that while the transition could have taken until August 15, Toledo Police Department has already returned all of Winlock’s equipment. Toledo is currently in its last transition phase, which is laying off two of its officers.

“I think that has been a misunderstanding by most,” Brockmueller said. “It’s not a timespan, it’s a time allotted for two cities to get their departments up and running. It can pretty much happen when the cities are ready to do what they are ready to do.”

Brockmueller said he has not met one-on-one with Valentine and officially met him at the Winlock City Council meeting were Valentine was appointed police chief.

Previously, Bradshaw told The Chronicle that Toledo and Winlock will still have four officers between them and that the cities are obliged to cover each other.

Brockmueller said that while Toledo Police Department will not let anyone get hurt, it will not change its shifts based on what shifts Winlock covers and Toledo officers will not respond to calls if Winlock officers are unavailable. 

Lewis County Sheriff Rob Snaza said in an interview on Wednesday that his office will continue to support both agencies.

“We will do whatever we can to help them (Winlock and Toledo),” Snaza said. “It just takes a lot of resources from us. Before, when Toledo covered it, you had at least four officers — three and a chief, plus you had a reserve...We will be there to help them, however, it’s going to pull resources if we are involved in something else. Now we have to pull resources to go help them, which we will be more than happy to, but it’s going to have an effect on us.”

Snaza said that he doesn’t believe Toledo Police Department has a legal obligation to cover calls in Winlock. However, he noted there is a professional obligation to more serious calls. 

“If there is an in progress call, a burglary in progress, I’m pretty sure Toledo Police Department will respond,” Snaza said. “That’s important. We would respond to the same...However, if you’re talking about a call that is non-priority and it can hold, it will probably hold until the next available [Winlock] unit.”