Though the subject has come up recently, there should be no serious consideration of merging the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and the Chattanooga Police Department operations.
We are fortunate to have both city and county law enforcement under leaders who are respected as being both honest and diligent.
But that unfortunately has not always been the case. In the past, there have been some questionable, political and, sadly, even illegal operations in local police organizations. Keeping Chattanooga police, those of smaller municipalities and the sheriff’s office generally independent of each other provides “checks and balances.”
We doubt there would be better policing, more public safety or lower tax costs if there were any merger of local law enforcement authorities.
What’s wrong with insisting upon the choice of able and honest city and county law enforcement officials, encouraging them to cooperate within the law, but keeping them separate and independent?