Why we do not have a Police Department?

JAN 3, 2024

For years the residents of Aledo have wanted a Police Department. Numerous ideas have been bounced around with none being adopted. We have even borrowed 40 MILLION DOLLARS ( 18 Million plus principle and interest) to build a new City Hall. Did you know that we were "approved" for this debt with the understanding that we WOULD have a Police Department? If we do not have a PD when we finish construction of the City Hall there will be severe financial consequences for the city and it's citizens. More to come later on this topic. 

What have been some of the ideas for a Police Department?

1. Just create a Police Department and be done. Why have we not? Well, we have already spent close to $100,000 on consultants. It seems logical that we should know how to do this by now. Not that simple, at issue is the lack of knowledge which the  City Manger Noah Simon and Mayor Nick Stanley have. Sources report that the two of them have ideas for a PD that are not realistic. We have heard that they believe that we need 4 jail cells, a huge court room, a dispatch center etc. Frankly this is not how it is done. Almost every city in the area does not have there own jail cells, holding cells or dispatch center. They all contract with Parker County Sherrifs Department for these services. If the City Manager and Mayor got serious they could spin up a PD for about 2 - 2.5 MILLION dollars. (Reminder, he gave himself President of the EDC Nick Stanley a 2.4 MILLION dollar budget)
2. Citizens have suggested that Aledo ISD Police Department step in and police Aledo. There are numerous reasons as to why this is a bad idea. The easiest to understand is this, Street Policing is completely different than School Policing. There would be different equipment, different training, different officers, different polices between the school and the streets. I would speculate that the officers which AISDPD has now are there because they no longer want to do street policing, God love them, we have no issue with that, Let them be experts in what they do best, school policing. 
3. Continue to pay Parker County Sherrifs Department $350,000 to $450,000 per year for services. We all know how this is working out. 
4. Probably the best idea and what makes the most logical sense is too partner with another local agency. This would keep cost down, and give us a police presence immediately. For a period of 3-4 years Aledo would be assigned 3-4 officers committed to Aledo City Limits. They would have the back up and the experience of the sister agency. This would give us time to build a quality department, put infrastructure in place and become independently state compliant. In the end the sister department would pull out leaving us with trained officers, equipment and a wealth of knowledge. Seems reasonable, yes? Well, as it turns out the City Manager has shopped for just that several months ago. Sources tell us that he has spoken to Willow Park, Hudson Oaks, Weatherford and Benbrook. All have turned him down with the exception of, the City of Willow Park. 

RNS submitted a FOIA/PIR to the City of Willow Park and received a copy of the proposal and other documents that they presented to Aledo. Those documents along with the proposal can be found here. 

Sources (on the condition of anonymity) has shared that City Manager Noah Simon refused to pay more than $500,000 per year for services. The COWP offer was $665,619.96 for Police Services. That is a difference of only $165,619.96 per year. 

So we question this decision, we here at RNS may not be as smart as the City Manger Noah Simon or the Mayor/EDC President Nick Stanley but we can read. 

The current Aledo FY2024 Adopted budget shows a library budget of $117,656 + $40,000 for a total of $157,656 dollars. (A screen shot can be found here)  THIS IS ONLY FOR A PARTIAL YEAR. (There will also be a build cost of approximately 1.255 MILLION for the library - see attached estimate).

If you review the email obtained via previous FOIA/PIR, from Aledo, between Council Woman Shawna Ford to City Manager Noah Simon and then cross referencing the adopted budget we can see that Parker County Sherrifs Department will receive upwards of  $482,000 for FY2024. We here at RNS believe that number to be high. We know that Aledo pays PCSD somewhere between $350,000 to $450,000 per year for services. Another issue is that by design, City Manager Noah Simon made the Aledo budget difficult to understand and is not giving the public detail on where our money is being spent. For the sake of argument we feel that $400,000 to PCSD is a safe number for FY2024. 

COWP PD Offer -                    $665,619.96 per year

AVG Paid to PCSD -                ($383,000) per year

What we are paying EPCL - ($157,656) FY2024 PARTIAL YEAR (estimated to be cost for 6 months) - DOES NOT INCLUDE BUILD COST (1.255 MILLION). 

There is a difference of only $124,963.96 (call it $125K). 

So for $125,000 per year we do not have a police department, but we have a library. 

If we use a 12 month estimated budget for the library: 

COWP PD Offer -                    $665,619.96 per year

AVG Paid to PCSD -                ($383,000) per year

What we are paying EPCL - ($275,312) ESTIMATED FULL YEAR - DOES NOT INCLUDE BUILD COST (1.255 MILLION). 

There is a difference of $7,307.96 (Call it $7,500)

In this example a Police Department would cost an additional $7,500.00 but we would not have a library. 

Our Mayor who is also the President of the City of Aledo EDC gave himself a 2.4 MILLION dollar EDC budget. 

#DefendAledo #RulesForTheeAndNotForMe #RecallNickStanley