The Muskogee County Sheriff’s Office took over law enforcement duties in Webbers Falls on Monday, said Mayor Jewell Horne.

She and Sheriff Charles Pearson reached an agreement for the county to cover the town. Representatives of the Oklahoma Council for Law Enforcement Training ruled the town could not have a police force without a chief.

Tim Brown was dismissed as police chief at the town Board of Trustees’ July meeting. A temporary chief was named but the board later changed its mind about that appointment and had been operating without a chief of police.

The town had two full-time police officers and one reserve officer, Horne said.

Pearson said he is hopeful the arrangement will be made permanent and that the town will reimburse the county for service.

He also said he hopes to see similar agreements for other county towns that now have police departments.

“I think this is going to be a benefit for us as well as Webbers Falls,” Pearson said. “It’s going to allow me to station more people down there and cover that district of the county. That’s been our whole goal all along.”

Horne said the board of trustees would decide whether to make the arrangement permanent.

Pearson said he assigned two full-time deputies to the Webbers Falls area Monday. He would like to set up a kind of substation in the area, where the officers have a place to write reports and make telephone calls, he said.

He said the town’s police department officers could be used if the town agrees.

It would be much better for the citizens of any area of the county to have officers stationed in their vicinity and it would be better for the county too, Pearson said.

It would reduce both mileage and response time, he said.

“A deputy has to stay in that area and they don’t go from Council Hill to Porum to take a report,” Pearson said.

The county will be answering all calls except traffic accidents in Webbers Falls, Pearson said. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol will work traffic accidents.

“We cannot enforce city ordinances but there shouldn’t be any change in what the citizens of Webbers Falls have had in the past,” Pearson said.

Pearson said he thinks county towns might find it more economical as well as more beneficial to their citizens to contract for law enforcement rather than have police departments.

Back in the day when the separate police departments were established, the entire county had eight deputies, he said. It was impractical to think one of those eight deputies could be in a given area on a moment’s notice.

Today, there are 22 deputies and it’s more realistic to have them stationed throughout the county, Pearson said. The sheriff’s office is now equipped to provide routine patrol and crime prevention instead of just answering calls.

Contracting for service would cut payroll costs. It could give more coverage to the towns because oftentimes there is not an officer on duty when an officer goes for training or is on vacation, Pearson said. In addition, towns would no longer have the need for a municipal judge.

Reach Liz McMahan at 684-2926 or lmcmahan @muskogeephoenix.com.