Single-Officer Police Force May Be Cut

Dawson, TX, wonders whether it's overstaffed

By Sam Gale Rosen, Newser Staff

Posted Aug 14, 2007 6:54 PM CDT

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Single-Officer Police Force May Be Cut — Council member Thomas %u201CSonny%u201D Slater believes abolishing the police department would save the town necessary funds. Mayor Paula Sears disagrees, stating %u201CIf we want no ordinances and a free-for-all, we should pursue this,%u201D she said, %u201C(but) my recommendation is to keep the police... (Index Open)

Dawson, Texas, has one police officer, and that may be one too many. Almost a tenth of the town's 800 residents attended a meeting where eliminating the department altogether was discussed. In general, however, the crowd seemed to support Nicole McMahan—the single officer—although the department was attacked as too expensive.

A few residents claimed that McMahan wasn't writing enough tickets, and they wanted explanations for sighting the police cruiser in neighboring towns. Mayor Paula Sears spoke out on the side of keeping their girl in blue. As to the complaint that one month she wrote only two tickets, McMahan said she was on vacation two weeks that month, and quotas are illegal. (More Nicole McMahan stories.)

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