That old legal phrase "across state lines" won't mean much to the police in Wendover any more.
The police in Wendover, Utah, will be the same as the police in Wendover, Nev.In a rare move, the two cities have consolidated their police forces into a single department and will organize a joint commission to oversee its operations.
The western Wendover City Council approved the consolidation first, and counterparts on the Utah side of the border endorsed the unusual interstate arrangement Tuesday night.
City Manager Art Martines, who administers the Utah city, said he believes this is only the third consolidation of police departments across state lines in the nation and the first in the Western United States.
"All we need is for the mayor of each city to sign the interlocal agreement," he said, and the new expanded police force will be on the job.
The move will solve a bundle of problems for the smaller and less wealthy community managed by Martines, who was mayor and chief administrative officer of Price before coming here in November 1996.
"We've had a very difficult time keeping a police chief and officers because of the lack of housing, low pay and wives or girlfriends who didn't want to live here," he said.
In fact, half of the 18 police officers on the Nevada side originally worked in eastern Wendover and left for better pay and work conditions just a few blocks to the west.
"They're still POST (Peace Officers Standards and Training) certified" for Utah, Martines said, so the consolidation will be accomplished with a minimum of administrative hassle.
The city manager said he read about a similar merger across Delaware and Maryland state lines last year and began moving in that direction as municipal funds dwindled with the loss of air charter service revenues at Wendover Airport last summer.
West Wendover's police chief, Alan James, has also been acting chief in eastern Wendover for some time and has supervised the Utah city's two peace officers.
Meantime, the Utah city has been contracting with its wealthier sister community to fill in when those two officers were off duty.
"With the sizes of our communities, why should we duplicate everything?" Martines asked.
Once the newly consolidated police department is functioning smoothly, the city manager said the two cities will look at the consolidation of fire services.