Copper Hill is a little town in Tennessee with less than six hundred residents. They would like to have four full-time police officers. Three of their former officers have quit in the past few weeks, as well as the city councilman in charge of the police department. Why?

All of the people that live around Copper Hell seem to be required to pay, in the forms of police initiated traffic fines, for the running of their small-town government. It seems, to an outside observer, that all of the local old-folks and local good-ol boys aren't the ones getting ticketed. Does a town of six hundred people need four police officers for any reason other than generating revenue? What sort of terrible things have happened there in the past few years? Nothing, Copper Hill is a bunch of old people living on the side of a hill looking at the river.

Whoa there Bubba...

Copperhill is a decent enough little up and coming town that many of the locals love to kick around all the time for this and that... of course some of it in the past was partly self-inflicted (Mayorial conduct, etc., etc.) - but for those "in the know", it is a little diamond in the rough that has lots of assets that are just beginning to be discovered.. (hint - river running through middle of town, historic district running up the hillside with historic homes and rail riders destination from two directions almost daily - Blue Ridge and Etowah). Not to mention that it is really the jumping off point for the Ocoee and all the national forest activity just over the line in Tennessee. AND those who live in or near Copperhill don't have to pay the State of Georgia 6% of your hard earned bucks - its like Florida - no State income tax in Tennessee - so what if someone gets a ticket every now and then for doing 20+ miles over the limit (they published the facts last year that there were never really any tickets written for peole just barely speeding)... and all our "numbers" come up every so often to pay the piper by getting a traffic ticket. I've paid plenty of tickets all over Georgia for speeding, but never in Copperhill and I drive through there quite frequently...

FWIW (For what its worth) - Copperhill now has a new police Chief & officers and is rebuilding the police department. The new regime also seems very friendly and eager to serve and help. Alot of the problem has been that the City hasn't paid competitive wages to keep a good force in place (some people don't understand that people will follow the money when deciding where to work), but hopefully as the City grows its businesses, it will get more tax revenue from sales tax, etc. and will be able to compensate good people better. It will happen - look at all the traffic on Highway 5 north at about 5 PM coming into Copperhill.

John,

Everything you say is fine and dandy. I love Copper Hill, I'm a responsible neighbor, I do business there.

What I can't understand is why a town of less than 600 people needs a full time police force, four officers.

I'm also curious, because you seem to be "In the know", who pays their salaries? Are those some sort of Federal grants or do they have to generate revenue through speeding tickets? Where does the money come from?

El Bubba

The subject of the Copperhill Police Department seems to be something that has existed forever and is always a subject of debate..

If you are a person living in Copperhill, you more than likely want a Police Department for some of the following reasons.

1) Visible deterrent to the criminal element (burglars, thieves, scammers, child molesters, and worse criminals, etc etc.)

2) Quicker emergency response for medical and other emergencies (especially for the elderly)

3) Higher quality of life (they supposedly enforce city ordinances such as dealing with noise violations, loose animals and such).

4) Lower insurance costs for business owners and property owners - all city police department factors into lower cost ratings by insurance carriers - they know there probably will be on average fewer property crimes where there is a close by presence..

Unfortunately, bad things can happen in tiny cities as well as large ones. Look around the country and you can see..

As far as where the money comes from - property taxes, grants (although the grants usually just pay for equipment, not manpower), beer taxes and sales and use taxes collected in the city all pay for all aspects of the city operation.

McCaysville also has four officers - Blue Ridge has considerably more.