MPPS

Half of Michigan local law enforcement agencies say they are underfunded, while most local governments are satisfied with their appropriations

January 2025

This report presents the views of Michigan’s local government leaders, local chiefs of police, county sheriffs, and county prosecutors regarding funding for law enforcement agencies, including assessments of whether sheriff’s offices and police departments receive the appropriate levels of funding, whether local officials would support pursuing new local millages or special assessments to fund law enforcement, and what each group’s top priorities for potential new spending would be. These findings are based on statewide surveys of local government and law enforcement leaders in the spring 2024 wave of the Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS), with some comparison to data collected on the fall 2015 MPPS wave.

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Key findings

  • Statewide, 59% of county sheriffs and 45% of local chiefs of police say that the local governments they serve (counties, townships, cities, and villages) do not appropriate sufficient funding for their agencies.
    • Law enforcement leaders in smaller agencies, agencies in the Upper Peninsula, and higher crime communities are most likely to say they are underfunded.
  • By contrast, just 19% of local government officials whose governments fund police departments or sheriffs’ offices believe they appropriate too little (including 21% of governments that directly fund law enforcement and 16% that have an indirect role, i.e., contracting for law enforcement services to be provided by a special authority/district, by another municipality, or through a contract with their county sheriff). Meanwhile, a large majority (66%) of local officials say they spend about the right amount, and 11% say they currently appropriate too much for law enforcement.
  • Statewide, 44% of local officials would support pursuing new local funding for law enforcement through either a new millage or special assessment, while 27% would oppose pursuing new local funding.
  • When it comes to top priorities for allocating potential new spending on law enforcement, sheriffs, chiefs, and local government leaders all rank recruitment and retention efforts as among their highest priorities. However, sheriffs (71%) and police chiefs (68%) are significantly more likely to say increasing pay or benefits for current officers would be a “very high” priority, compared with 36% of local officials.