Police protection in Oxford Township is going to increase.

Last week, the township board voted 7-0 to amend the 2019-21 law enforcement services agreement with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office to add one deputy and one patrol investigator. The additions will take effect after the county Board of Commissioners approves the amendment.

Based on the contract prices, the annual cost for a deputy is $132,996 in 2019; $136,878 in 2020; and $140,866 in 2021.

The annual cost for a patrol investigator is $138,447 for 2019; $142,647 in 2020; and $146,971 in 2021.

Two more bodies will increase the substation’s staffing to 19 officers. Currently, the staff includes 13 deputies, two patrol investigators (one who functions as a detective and one who serves as the school liaison officer), a sergeant and a lieutenant, who’s in command.

According to Sheriff’s Sgt. Frank Lenz, second-in-command of Oxford’s substation, the deputy will be added to the afternoon shift, which runs from 3 to 11 p.m.

“There is a definite need based on calls for service, (the) availability of officers and the growth of the community to add at least one more officer to the afternoon shift,” he told the board.

Adding an officer will allow the afternoon shift to have a minimum of three deputies on duty, instead of the two that the township has now. Lenz said two deputies isn’t enough.

“Even on a slow day if they get one serious call . . . that ties up both officers and leaves no one available to . . . handle all the other calls,” he said. “It’s not that those (types of) calls are happening on a regular basis, but it only takes one call to take all my vehicles out of service.”

The additional patrol investigator will serve as the substation’s second detective.

Lenz noted the substation has been functioning with one detective since the sheriff’s office began covering the township in 2000. That’s just not enough anymore, he explained, because Oxford’s population is about 21,000 now, which is “way above” what it was almost 20 years ago.

“My detective investigates approximately 150 cases a year,” Lenz said.

He noted investigating a single criminal sexual conduct case “takes about 40 hours worth of labor.”

“He’s overworked. He’s got stacks of cases on his desk,” the sergeant added.

Lenz informed the township board there are ongoing discussions with Oxford Schools Superintendent Tim Throne about potentially adding a second liaison (or resource) officer to the district.

The district has been served by one liaison officer, Jason Louwaert, a patrol investigator, since 2016. The district funds the position for nine months out of the year, while the township pays for the other three months.

Lenz told officials this officer has been “very, very, very successful in all the schools, but he’s overworked” because he’s “handling more schools (and more students) than any other (single) school liaison officer in the county.”

Oxford’s liaison officer is responsible for the high school, middle school, five elementary schools and the school that the district operates on the Crossroads for Youth campus.

“He’s spread kind of thin at the high school, handling the investigations there and dealing with the more adult students,” Lenz said. “I’d like to get a second one in the middle school and to handle more of the elementary schools.”