Residents in a portion of Harvest will no longer be calling the Argyle Police Department when dialing 9-1-1.
According to Argyle Police Chief Emmitt Jackson, the department will no longer be the primary responding agency to the section of Harvest between Harvest Way and I-35W from Harvest Town Center to just north of Old Justin Road.
The change starts Monday.
That means Argyle PD will not be the primary agency to respond to non-priority calls, perform traffic enforcement or routine or close patrols/vacation watches.
Instead, those duties will be taken on by the Denton County Sheriff’s Office.
However, Jackson said the change won’t keep Argyle PD from backing up the sheriff’s office in case of an emergency.
“As any law enforcement agency would do, we will respond immediately to calls and incidents involving danger to citizens or offenses in progress,” he said. “Policing is a collaborative effort, so we will still work with our fellow agencies in the interest of public safety.”
The change comes after the Town of Argyle proposed a new, 30-year agreement to the Belmont Fresh Water Supply District No. 2 Board of Supervisors in January.
While the proposal would have continued Argyle PD services for that section of Harvest for 30 years, it also would have increased the per-household cost to $1,790.45 — nearly seven times the previous rate.
Under the previous agreement, each household paid $228.98, which funded one officer assigned to patrol that portion of Harvest.
In February, the Argyle Town Council voted unanimously to discontinue that agreement with Belmont FWSD No. 2 after the two sides couldn’t come to a deal.
Argyle Town Manager Mike Sims explained the high fee request was to provide Harvest residents equal policing as those within Argyle town limits. The goal is to keep the department operating at 2.5 officers per 1,000 residents.
“It’s a level playing field concept because we don’t want to wait until there is a problem,” said Sims in an earlier interview. “We have a very proactive approach to policing within our town limits – we’ve designed our force to prevent crime and take into account traffic problems. To translate that to [Harvest], we simply have to have more bodies.”
That section of Harvest lies in Argyle’s extraterritorial jurisdiction, an unincorporated area that is contiguous to Argyle’s boundaries.
The town is currently in the process of building a new town center and police station.
In order to design the building, the town would have to account for police staffing and equipment, which would depend on whether the department was only policing within town limits or the Harvest area, as well.
Sims believes Harvest will grow much faster than the population within town limits, which could drastically change the police staff needed to provide adequate coverage.
“We’re going to grow fairly slowly because of the requirements in place for large lots,” said Sims in February. “On the other hand, everything in Harvest that’s ever going to get built already has a permit… so they’re going to be playing catch up with the number of officers.”
Argyle PD is still contracted to perform police services for Harvest Town Center, according to Jackson, but the residents within Belmont FWSD No. 2’s borders will see less Argyle patrol cars and more sheriff’s deputies.
For information on the Denton County Sheriff’s Office, visit the department’s website.
