Operational Info from the Rock River Safety Patrol

Hello Brian,

I agree with the board members that any attempt by the Lake District to openly support the Boat Patrol would not work. It would open the door for the Towns to dump their responsibility on the Lake District, which they would do in a heart beat. I think the only way the Towns are going to increase funding to the RRSP is to be forced by the public for more patrol. In other words the RRSP needs some publicity. The only problem is when we make the news someone is injured or dies. The LKRA and RRKA have been donating to the RRSP and have expressed a willingness to do more, its a help and we are very grateful, but that is not the answer. For my part I am only one man and I can only do so much by myself.

We have made great strides in increasing our budget in the past year but that still falls short of what is actually needed. Getting some additional equipment is great but if I can't afford the patrol time to use it then what have we accomplished.

We operate on about a $13K budget, about $4K from the Towns another $8K from the DNR and about $600 from the State towards training. As far as disbursements go about$3-4K goes to insurance another $2-3K for fuel and miscellaneous equipment, another $1K for Workman's comp and other taxes. If I try and get the boat out for the 34 weekend and Holiday days at 8 hours a day during the summer I need almost $8.2K for payroll. If I put the PWC out then there is an additional $2K in payroll. We are also required to provide a minimum of 24 hours of training every year for each officer which is another $2.2K in payroll, although I have been able to dump some of the training on other agencies which is a help. If Tom Kunkel, Fran and Myself were to put in for the administrative hours we work that would be another $2-3K. That is why we don't put in for all the administrative hours we work.
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The salary structure has been frozen at $14.00 an hour for Officers and $14.50 an hour for the Sergeant and Captain. Plus the Officers have to pay for their own equipment and uniforms. They do not get a clothing allowance as they do in other police departments. So far the board has not acknowledged the need to look at the salery structure or the clothing allowance issue.

If we work on a recovery operation we do not get reimbursed from the DNR and that eats into our patrol hours. The bottom line is the the RRSP does the best it can with the $13K it operates with. To do the job properly we should have an operating budget of about $25K to 30K.

Law Enforcement is a thankless job it is only when something bad happens that LE becomes important. We are the red-headed step child of local government.

Most of the Towns don't think we are worth what they give us let alone giving us more. I try not to make a lot of noise about our budget because we stand a chance of losing everything.

This is only to give you an idea of the big picture and the challenges the RRSP faces.

I appreciate your friendship and support, it means a lot to me and to the Patrol.

Captain Henry Sautin