Mt. Vernon Register-News

Local

January 15, 2008

Belle Rive considers hiring a police officer

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By KANDACE MCCOY

kandace.mccoy@register-news.com

BELLE RIVE — The Village of Belle Rive Board voted to form a committee that would look into the feasibility of hiring a police officer for that community. The decision comes two weeks after an elderly man, Noel Reeker, 87, called the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department reporting he had been “tied up and attacked.”

When a deputy arrived on the scene, Reeker reported the incident had occurred sometime during the previous night, though he could not recall the details. Reeker was then transported for treatment of injuries to Crossroad’s Community Hospital. Last week, the hospital refused to comment on the condition of Reeker, whom Belle Rive Mayor Don Wilkey described as being the victim of a “brutal beating.”

An investigation of the incident is currently ongoing, and Wilkey said he was told by Jefferson County Sheriff Roger Mulch that the incident “probably couldn’t have been prevented” even if an intervention program had been set in place by the village. The mayor stated he had “other information” from the sheriff, but could not comment on the investigation. However, he did state the incident involved people “probably not from here.”

Currently the village does not have a crime intervention program such as a Neighborhood Watch, as “no one has taken interest in crime prevention,” Wilkey said during the meeting.

Wilkey proposed the possibility of applying for grants to hire a police officer, a possibility that seemed very slim in the eyes of some board members. “The (Belle Rive) fire department has looked into grants before and written grants and have been turned down,” said board member Fred Gowler. “We’re very small in a big picture. We do not have resources like Ina and Bonnie.”

The concern, as board members see it, is the fact that as a small municipality resources for Belle Rive will be limited. “Does anyone know of small villages about our size receiving grants (for a police officer)?” board member Butch Schoate asked. “I know of none. We could use a policeman.”

The committee, made up of Gowler, Schoate and Kim McCormick, will talk to the villages of Ina and Bonnie regarding their respective police forces and check into the financial aspect of hiring a police officer.

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