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By Mike Barnhardt

Enterprise Record

COOLEEMEE – Come Jan. 1, there will be no municipal police departments in Davie County.

Town board members here on Monday voted 3-0 to disband the police department and enter into a 2.5 year contract with the Davie County Sheriff’s Department for police coverage.

“This was a tough decision to make, but it’s the best option we have with the chief leaving at the end of the month,” said Chris Almond, the town board’s public safety commissioner.

Currently, the part-time police chief and three part-time officers provide the town with some 60 hours of coverage in a two-week period. The town had budgeted $175,000 for the police department in the fiscal year that started in July.

Cooleemee will pay the sheriff’s office $100,000 per year for a minimum of 4,800 yearly hours of coverage, said Town Clerk Aaron Thies.

“Going with the sheriff’s department, the town will be receiving more coverage on a weekly basis,” Thies said. “With the ongoing decrease in revenue the town receives, the town doesn’t have the funds to bring the department back to where it needs to be to provide safety for the residents of Cooleemee.”

Bermuda Run, which has never had it’s own police department, and Mocksville, which disbanded its police force a couple of years ago, also contract with the sheriff for additional coverage in those municipalities.