Michigan State Police troopers return to posts

Fifty-five of the 100 Michigan State Police troopers laid off in June have returned to their jobs with support from state budget funding.

Michigan State Police spokeswoman Shannon Banner said the troopers, laid off June 28 because of declining state revenues, were recalled based on seniority and returned to work Nov. 16. The laid-off troopers had joined the Michigan State Police within the past five years, she said.

The funding for the recalls comes from the Michigan State Police budget bill, said Megan Brown, a spokeswoman for Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

The State Police Budget for the 2009-10 fiscal year is $527.3 million, an increase of $5.5 million from the previous year.

One officer returned to the Lansing Post of the Michigan State Police, but Banner did not release his or her name.

Banner said the return of the troopers is a “welcome addition” to the state police.

“Our staffing is still stretched thin, but these troopers provide relief to our posts,” she said.

East Lansing police Chief Tom Wibert said the cutbacks in Michigan State Police staffing have affected communities on a local level.

The East Lansing Police Department has relied on the support of the state police on its busiest nights, he said.

“It’s the one way that we can get a lot of police officers in town very quickly,” Wibert said. “I think, in that sense, if you have a true emergency, you need to have a strong state police force.”

And delays at the state police crime lab mean leaving offenders on the streets longer, he said.

“What (a smaller number of state police officers) means to us at a local level is having cases sit there for months at a time, having a suspect out there for extra six months,” Wibert said. “It gives them an extra six months to be out there committing crimes.”

Wibert said it will help to have a trooper return to the tri-county area, as having the state police in larger numbers makes a “huge difference” to local police.

Thirty-seven troopers await possible rehiring, and eight troopers declined recall, Banner said. The Michigan State Police hopes to see grant funding come through that could perhaps lead to more recalls, she said.

But with revenues at a 1965 level when readjusted for reinflation, funding for more troopers currently is not available, Brown said. However, protecting Michigan’s citizens is critical and a priority for Granholm, she said.

“It goes without saying that we wish we could rehire all the troopers,” she said. “There simply isn’t the money to support more than 55.”