The police departments in Parkersburg and Aplington have begun patrolling both towns.
Parkersburg Police Chief Bruce Tierney says the main goal is to increase coverage in both towns and reduce potential burnout.
“We just want to provide better coverage for both communities,” Tierney says. “It’s something we’ve tried to do in the past a few times. I think everything’s just kind of coming together now where it makes perfect sense. We already share the school district. That way we can have better police coverage. Somebody out in a car more often to handle the calls. I just spoke with Sheriff Johnson, and he reiterated that he’s not looking for more work, so he wants us to succeed in this venture and cover both towns.”
Tierney says the eventual goal is to combine the departments into one department for both cities. Previously, the departments in each city would assist on calls in the opposite city as needed.
“May 1, we started working that one schedule between the two departments. I guess that’s the first step. Kind of start working out some of the kinks, one of their officers is still active in the military. So we’ve got some time to work through. They have some training at the end of this month. So we’re going to help cover Aplington. We’ll just see how this first month goes and kind of work out the kinks from there.”
