Among Michigan law enforcement agency leaders, concerns about funding levels are widespread, with almost half of chiefs of police and county sheriffs saying the local governments they serve do not provide sufficient money for their agencies.
However, just 1 in 5 local leaders providing the money share that view.
The findings come from the latest installment of the Michigan Public Policy Survey conducted in spring 2024 by the Center for Local, State and Urban Policy.
The survey found 59% of county sheriffs and 45% of local chiefs of police say the local governments they serve don't provide adequate funding for their agencies. By contrast, only 19% of local government officials in communities that fund law enforcement directly or indirectly believe they fail to deliver what's needed for law enforcement-and 11% say they currently appropriate too much money.
Interestingly, the survey finds assessments of funding are only loosely tied to perceived levels of crime: Among law enforcement officials who are concerned about crime levels in their community, 51% believe their agency gets too little funding. That's compared with 40% of sheriffs and chiefs from communities who say crime is not much of a problem or not one at all.
Similarly, among governments, even in places where the local leader believes crime is "a significant problem," 59% say their government currently funds about the right amount for policing, and 8% think they're paying too much.
The survey found significant regional disparities: For example, law enforcement agencies in the Upper Peninsula are most likely to say they don't get enough money, while those in the western central Lower Peninsula are most likely to say they get the right amount of funding. More than half of those law enforcement leaders surveyed in urban or mostly rural areas say they receive too little funding, while those in mostly urban areas were more likely to say they were appropriately funded.
Despite the fact that most local leaders see funding levels for law enforcement as at least adequate, many are open to pursuing more money for those agencies. The survey found 44% of officials in communities that directly provide local law enforcement services would support a new millage or special assessment-compared with 27% opposing efforts to find more money.
"We also asked about priorities for spending any new funding for law enforcement," said Debra Horner, the survey's senior program manager. "Sheriffs, police chiefs and local government leaders all say recruitment and retention efforts are among their highest funding priorities. But law enforcement leaders are significantly more likely to say increasing pay or benefits for current officers would be a very high priority, while hiring new officers is particularly important among local government officials in places that fund police or sheriffs' offices."
The Michigan Public Policy Survey has been conducted since 2009 by CLOSUP at U-M's Ford School of Public Policy. Respondents returning surveys between April-June 2024 include county, city, township and village officials from 1,307 jurisdictions across the state, as well as 54 county sheriffs, 234 chiefs of police or directors of public safety, and 55 elected county prosecutors.
The spring 2024 wave of the survey program was funded by a grant from The Joyce Foundation.
