Over the years, Aberdeen and Hoquiam have often discussed consolidating police forces into one, but a new bill before the state Legislature suggested by Aberdeen Mayor Erik Larson could make it a more realistic option.

The bill would create a framework for two or more cities with contiguous boundaries to create municipal police districts that consolidate services under one entity, funded by all cities involved. Larson said that in the past he has been against combining forces because discussions were leaning toward giving Hoquiam’s police department control over both cities. It led him to seek this new bill that he says allows for a more cooperative system.

“I wasn’t comfortable pursuing a structure where Aberdeen would be effectively providing the funding for police in Hoquiam to manage our own police department,” said Larson. “I wanted something that was more structured and provided more freedom than the current system provided.”

Should the bill eventually pass and local cities wanted to form a police district, several other things would need to happen first. The bill states that each city must select one elected official, along with the respective police chiefs to serve on a planning committee that would formulate a plan for how the district would operate. This plan would explain the district’s financing, any new policies that come with it, and other logistics.

The plan would go before the respective city councils, which would decide whether to put the plan before voters, who would have to approve the plan at a 60 percent approval rate. If any city wishes to withdraw from the district at any time, it can choose to do so.

The elected officials on the planning committee would serve as district commissioners for the first year it’s active. For every subsequent year, the cities involved would reappoint an elected official to serve as commissioner. Those commissioners are additionally responsible to appoint a single chief for the entire police district. The district would also need approval from each city for the selected chief before they get the job.

Aside from the obvious proximity between Aberdeen and Hoquiam, Larson said the benefit would be in having one larger policing force that would be better staffed and able to handle more investigative cases.

“It would mean a larger department, more resources, and a more proactive department that can do tertiary police work you might not be able to do if you spend all your police time with maintaining minimum patrolling,” said Larson.

The bill was formulated by Larson and State Rep. D-Brian Blake, and was then sponsored by Blake and all other representatives in the 19th and 24th legislative districts (Jim Walsh, Steve Tharinger and Mike Chapman). Legislators gave the bill a first read-through last week in Olympia.

In terms of a change in finances, Larson guessed that the bill wouldn’t have any real effect on the cities’ public safety costs. Even though having one department could mean more efficient services, Larson said it would also entail having more officers on duty at all hours and investigating other cases, thus balancing out the savings by having more service.

“If there were savings, they would probably be consumed by there being more (available officers),” said Larson. “The county passed a sales tax increase to fund public safety services. You can see there’s probably a public sentiment that we don’t provide enough public safety services as it is.”

But while Larson sees the bill as a way to ensure both cities have equal say in policing procedures, Hoquiam mayor Jasmine Dickhoff thinks it’s unnecessary to turn it into a statewide law. Dickhoff said it would be best to focus on ongoing work she has done with Larson and others to work out a more local agreement that doesn’t require the lengthy timeline associated with legislation.

“An inter-local agreement is, in my opinion, an optimal approach as it allows for both cities and their mayors, council, police and citizens to work together to address concerns and goals,” said Dickhoff. “This would allow for a joint department to be completed in a more timely manner that would come from city leadership and the folks who are actually tasked with responding to calls.”

She is also confident that the cities can be cooperative in forming their own police district, citing examples like the Timberworks master plan Aberdeen and Hoquiam are undertaking to solve flooding problems. She also mentioned that Hoquiam and Cosmopolis are sharing a city attorney and that’s going smoothly.

“Cosmopolis had a vacancy after their attorney retired and Mayor (Frank) Chestnut reached out to us about the possibility,” said Dickhoff. “We have been both operating with the same attorney now for many months with no contention.”

Both Larson and Dickhoff emphasized that the bill isn’t really a solution to the two cities’ policing plans, but more so an option they could consider down the line. But Dickhoff said it’s important to continue having discussions on the local level to see how a single police force would work best for residents.

“If our cities wanted to utilize this bill, that is still up for discussion,” she said. “In the meantime the decision to work together depends not on the passage of this bill but on the courage for us as leaders to work together to best address the needs of our citizens as a whole. With the input of those who would be asked to do the work.”

Dickhoff said that if Larson or others do not wish to continue discussions for their own single police force, she would stop pushing for it.

“If it is Mayor Larson’s wish, or that of our constituents, to cease an effort I will withdraw my insistence immediately,” said Dickhoff. “We are making good strides as independent cities. This was only meant to help us serve the area best in the services we’ve agreed to provide.”

Larson guessed it would be unlikely for the bill to pass this session, but said he was hopeful it could in upcoming years after generating discussion.

“Realistically this is a process that would take some time, and that’s a good thing because this is a pretty major thing to do,” said Larson.

Larson said other communities around the state could find the bill useful. “You have fairly large cities contiguous, especially in the Puget Sound and Columbia Valley area where there might be interest in it,” he said. “It might require a lot of refining, but I could see it being of value to them.”