COLUMBIA (WACH) -- Columbia City Council is discussing the idea of consolidating the Richland County Sheriff's Department and the Columbia City Police Department.
At Wednesday evening's meeting, councilmembers and Mayor Steve Benjamin considered a proposal that would join the two forces. It's an idea that's been brought up before.
Benjamin says he wants to do whatever is safe and efficient in order to protect the city and the county.
"It's important to us to look at what works well everywhere," Benjamin explains. "There are some communities with consolidation, but certainly consolidation of certain services like law enforcement has worked very well and some places where it hasn't worked as well."
Columbia Interim Police Chief Carl Burke and Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott were both on hand at the meeting.
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City, county officials consider police consolidation - Wednesday, May 19, 2010
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Councilman says combining police is no brainer - Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Columbia City Council members plan to bring an idea to the Richland County Council that would consolidate the two police forces.
City, county could share law enforcement head - Wednesday, November 28, 2007
With current turmoil in the Columbia Police Department, some city council members are already talking about solutions.
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