Hampton disbands their police force Monday night

HAMPTON, Ill. (KWQC) - The Village of Hampton Board of Trustees voted unanimously Monday night to disband their police force for coverage from the Rock Island Co. Sheriff’s Dept.

A heated discussion, lasting over two hours, was held at Monday’s board meeting where Hampton residents and police officers debated with board members on whether or not to disband the police force.

Despite arguments against the move to disband, the board proceeded with a vote to officially turn over police protection from the Hampton Police Dept. to the Sheriff’s Dept.

“Anytime that you lose a public office and stuff like that, there’s gonna be, very much, concerns,” said one Hampton resident.

Another resident expressed his concerns.

“I would rather see us have a police department,” he said. “I know that we’re one of the smaller communities around here that still has a police department and it is pretty nice that when you do have problems, and there has been times where I’ve had to call them for maybe a dog on the loose or something, and they respond pretty quickly.”

Some residents at Monday’s meeting said they were left in the dark during the process and caught by surprise. However, the board told them they have been discussing budget concerns over the department for years.

Nonetheless, police protection for Hampton will now come from the county.

“Working out in Port Byron, I know that the sheriffs are out there and they do a pretty good job,” said a resident. “But it does seem like if someone was actually in town, we would have that much more of a quicker response time.”

In response to concerns over response times, the president of the board released the schedules of the police dept. showing 31 shifts in a single month that have already not been covered by Hampton police.

According to the board, most weekends and daily third shifts have been covered by the Sheriff’s Dept. The president reiterated that the primary goal is to provide full-time police coverage to Hampton residents.

The change in police protection from the village to the county is effective immediately.

Hampton police officers were dismissed from duty after Monday night’s vote.

Under the current agreement, the Sheriff’s Dept. will cover Hampton through May 1, but the Hampton board will work on forming a full contract going forward.