Twin Cities Police Charting Course To Consolidation

San Anselmo Police Officers are learning on the job about their neighboring communities in Larkspur and Corte Madera, and they seem to be settling in nicely.

The Twin Cities Police Authority continues to move toward consolidation with the San Anselmo Police Department, with a target date of Dec. 31, 2012, according to a statement on the Town of San Anselmo website.

The Twin Cities Police Council meets at 4:30 p.m. today at police headquarters on Doherty Drive. The agenda includes an update on the consolidation efforts.

Talk of consolidation was spurred when the Twin Cities and San Anselmo police began sharing dispatch duties while the new Twin Cities Police headquarters was being built. Since then, the two agencies have intensified their working relationship, allowing them both to eliminate positions, mostly in administration, while increasing patrols, according to officials on both sides. TCPA has eliminated three positions and the San Anselmo Police Department eliminated four.

San Anselmo Police motorcycle units helped control traffic around Doherty Drive earlier in September when the street was closed for construction, although officers admitted things went so smoothly that they almost weren't needed. Almost.

Corte Madera Town Council member Carla Condon, who serves on the Twin Cities Police Council, said the current joint working agreement has allowed police to increase the number of officers on the streets of Corte Madera day and night.

The two agencies share the following services:

• Dispatch center
• Equipment
• Evidence storage and processing facility
• Investigations unit
• Administration
• Supervision
• Traffic unit
• Patrol force services
• New Emergency Operations Center

In related news, the Twin Cities Police have established a substation on bayside Corte Madera at Fire Station No. 13 on Paradise Drive. The substation features a phone that is directly connected to police dispatch.

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