Centreville/Constantine police merger going ‘better than imagined’ early on

By Robert Tomlinson
News Director

CONSTANTINE — Five months after a historic merger between two local municipalities for policing, things appear to be going smoothly so far for the Centreville-Constantine Police Department.
The department was merged on Sept. 1 of last year, after a few months of talks between the two municipalities. Centreville had been contracting with the St. Joseph County Sheriff’s Department since 2020, after a few years of having their own independent department, while Constantine has had their own department for many years.
So far, Police Chief Dan Thayer said in an interview last week, while they are still adapting to being a merged police department in some aspects, overall things are going smoothly.
“It’s just going better than I imagined it could have. I never would have thought this would be a possibility,” Thayer said. “I can’t think of one negative thing that’s happened so far, it’s been so smooth.”
Thayer said the two sides first started talking about a potential merger around mid-May, and came up with a framework in the months that followed.
“The village was asking some questions about how we did business, and it just kind of progressed from there,” Thayer said.
Michelle Thibideau, Centreville’s village clerk, said that through the talks, it became “more appetizing or appealing” to go with their own department rather than contract with the Sheriff’s Department.
The biggest selling point, both Thayer and Thibideau said, was the prospect of 24-hour coverage of both Centreville and Constantine, something that neither municipality had at the time.
“Independently, neither village can do it,” Thayer said. “We have two or three on the road – we will soon have three, we have two right now – they have two, so we get 12 hours a day separately, but merged, they put their 12 hours in the day shift, and we cover nights, and we have 24-hour coverage.”
“I think it’s a great asset to the village residents, just knowing that there’s either a car from Centreville or Constantine at all times,” Thibideau said. “We also get a say in what the cost is to the village. When you’re contracting with someone as big as the sheriff’s department, it was just like, this is the cost, so there was no negotiations where we had a little more control of everything. We could say yes and say no and have a little more say and we do have 24-hour coverage.”
Both sides agreed in August to the merger, and the department started in September. Merging police departments is not common in the state of Michigan, but there are a few that are in place in the state. Thayer called it a “very simple process” to complete the merger at the state level, although legally they are still known to the state as the Constantine Police Department.
“What’s interesting is we had to create the Centreville Police Department and all of us go get sworn in up there to legally have the authority up there,” Thayer said. “When we reached out to the state to see how to do this, they said you just say Constantine Police Department. Obviously, visibly, we want to be Centreville-Constantine.”
“Dan took that by the horns,” Thibideau added. “Things went from being a little more in our hands to being 100 percent in Dan’s hands. He’s good at what he does, and taking charge of all this.”
Currently, the department has seven total officers at this point, with five officers on the road taking complaints, responding to calls and monitoring traffic. Two of those officers are trainees who are riding with two other officers, including Thayer.
Thayer said it took residents in Centreville a bit to catch on to the new merged department, but after some new decals on the police vehicles were finally added, the confusion among residents has appeared to lessen a bit.
“It takes a while to get graphics and shoulder patches. We’re up in Centreville and everybody’s flagging us down, like, why are you guys up here? Well, your council opted to contract with us, so we’re your police department now. It was kinda funny for the first couple months, and then once we started getting the cars re-graphiced, and they started seeing that, then they started to understand,” Thayer said.
Thibideau said she hasn’t heard anything negative from residents about the arrangement thus far either.
“I’ve heard nothing negative, it’s all been positive. They see Centreville cars drive around constantly, and they know the presence is there,” Thibideau said. “Presence is everything. You just know you have those officers in town and if something comes up, they’re going to be right there.”
Financially, both municipalities are working on putting together a police budget for next year, with the deadline being by early March to be ready by the start of the next fiscal year on April 1 for the overall budget for both municipalities.
Thayer said while some factors, such as school officers being different, may cause things to be “lopsided,” Thayer said the goal is to get as close to the municipalities being “50/50” with funding the police department as possible. A couple of the officers right now, he said, are paid for by Centreville.
“It’s getting to, as we replace equipment and as we hire bodies, it is becoming more 50/50 as much as it can. Obviously, we don’t need two chiefs, we don’t need a school officer up there, the Sheriff’s Department has the contract for Centreville. So, to a degree there will be a bit of lopsidedness, but the goal is to make it 50/50 and make it Centreville-Constantine Police Department,” Thayer said.
On Centreville’s side, Thibideau said the merged police department costs the village around $200,000, estimating the amount would’ve been about the same under the Sheriff’s Department and that it would be around that same amount for the upcoming fiscal year.
Getting to know Centreville thus far, Thayer said, has been something the department is constantly continuing to do, given the relative unfamiliarity with the area.
“Our guys know that, if you’re not busy right now, stop in and see a business owner, stop in and see the people out mowing their lawns or whatever. They’re doing that kind of stuff, and we’ve had a lot of face-to-face contact with a lot of people up there, just like we’ve been doing here,” Thayer said. “I’m sure that we’ll continue to grow in that, but we hear a lot of positive comments constantly.”
Both Thayer and Thibideau said they are working on getting an office for the department in Centreville, with Thibideau saying they have a spot they’re working on in the upstairs section of the village office area. She said there is at least one reporting officer there per day in Centreville.
Thibideau echoed the apparent smoothness of the merger thus far as well.
“It’s gone smooth, it absolutely has. The guys Dan hired have been great, and they’re excited about the change, we’re excited about the change. I have nothing bad to say about it,” she said. “I hope things keep continuing to progress positively, and that the residents see the officers.”
As the merged department continues to go forward, Thayer said he hopes to see growth in the department, both in manpower and visibility in both communities, as well as growth in training.
“I think a little more growth in the sense that it would be nice to have the bodies that we can not only respond to complaints and handle those, but also have the visibility for the traffic stuff we need to deal with that we don’t have the time always, and the flexibility for days off, training, that kind of stuff,” Thayer said. “We have to train, we have to, so we need to have the flexibility to be able to do that and not leave holes, not leave the citizens unprotected in terms of waiting for the next shift to come on or a trooper or deputy coming from 25-30 miles, we shouldn’t be doing that to the MSP or sheriff’s department either. We should be able to take care of our own.
“And if it’s not costing any more by merging and having that option, that’s huge.”
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.