The Pleasant Prairie Police Department was established in 1979, and has since been operating solely under Wisconsin State Statutes. Village President, John Steinbrink, proposed an ordinance that would establish laws governing the operation of the department and would also establish performance standards that the public could expect the department to meet.
The performance standards defined by the ordinance provide for staffing at 1.5 officers per 1,000 residents, the same level that the department has operated at for over two decades. In comparison, the State staffing average is 2.3 officers per 1,000 residents. Other standards defined by the ordinance include: emergency response times of less than four minutes; a rate of investigative staff to patrol officers of 12%; and overall Criminal Index Offense clearance rate of 50% (at minimum), as compared with the 2004 State average of 26%. The Criminal Index Offense clearance rate refers to the number of major crimes investigated each year.
The newly adopted ordinance also sets forth a procedure for future contracting of police services, should the police department in its current state be disbanded. The procedures require that any potential contract meet or exceed the existing standards for the Pleasant Prairie Police Department. The ordinance also states that an effort to contract for police services outside of the existing department should be initiated by members of the Village Board as opposed to an external agency, group or individual. Additionally, the ordinance requires that any contract for external provision of police services be placed before Village voters as a binding referendum prior to acceptance.