Town of Morrison asking Jefferson County for law enforcement help

More news about the Morrison Police Department following their new Police Chief hire as reported by the Canyon Courier last month.

Town of Morrison asking Jefferson County for law enforcement help - VIDEO
Morrison is experiencing staffing shortages in its police department. The town is requesting help from the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office
Author: Richard Cote, Noel Brennan, 9News
Published: 11:57 AM MDT August 3, 2021

JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colorado — The Town of Morrison is expected to approve an agreement with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office (JCSO) to allow for deputies to assume certain law enforcement duties within town limits, during their Aug. 3 meeting.

A letter of agreement has been submitted into the agenda of Tuesday's board meeting. The letter cites "significant staffing shortages" in the town's police department as the reason for the request.

"There has been a lot of departure, and now it falls upon me to figure out why and how to fix it," said Morrison Police Chief Misty Siderfin.

Siderfin has been on the job four weeks, and she said three officers left the department during that time. Town manager Kara Winters said she estimated around 10 officers left since January. Currently, the department includes four full-time and two part-time officers.

Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office agrees to routine patrols, investigations in Morrison
Morrison will pay JCSO $24,000 per month for the aid
By KIERAN NICHOLSON | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | The Denver Post
August 3, 2021 at 9:24 p.m

The Morrison Town Board unanimously approved Tuesday night an agreement with the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office that calls for the sheriff’s office to provide law enforcement duties in the town.

The sheriff’s office will now assume duties including routine patrols, traffic enforcement and criminal investigations, according to the agreement.

Previous history: Morrison Police Chief allegedly being fired for not writing enough tickets
August 18, 2020

Our coverage, with additional information not found in the others:

The department's chief, remaining officer, two part-time officers and administrative assistant will continue working. A full staff is a chief, nine full-time officers, 2.6 part-time officers and an administrative assistant, according to Morrison's 2021 budget document.

Morrison Police Chief Misty Siderfin asked for JCOS to provide services to give her time to hire officers and to rebuild the department from the ground up. Since she started the job a month ago, two officers resigned to take jobs in higher-paying police departments while a third resigned to move out of state for family reasons.

Siderfin said it would take at least three months to hire new staff and another several months to get them trained, so it made sense to enter into the agreement with JCOS.

She has detailed 39 items she wants to complete in six months including talking with town officials, business owners and the community about their expectations for a police department; writing a mission statement and core values; doing a salary comparison with other departments; work on a police training program both alongside JCSO and specifically for Morrison; cleaning and organizing police space; rewriting job descriptions and more.

Read more here: www.canyoncourier.com/stories/jeffco-to-...-for-morrison,380390
Posted Thursday, August 5, 2021 11:41 am
Deb Hurley Brobst
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