Ishpeming Works on Emergency Plan

Local residents sound off about the moose shot to death in Ishpeming, and the city responds with the beginning of a contingency plan to respond to future emergencies.

At last night’s city council meeting, citizens raised a lot of concerns over the way police handled the moose situation.

After hearing from Chief Jim Bjorne, who reasoned that crowd control was a major problem, citizens commented they were afraid police might not be able to handle even more dangerous situations in the future.

In response, the city is starting step 1 of a county-wide contingency plan.

It would like all local police services together in case of another incident, like an animal in town or a public riot.

City manager Alan Bakalarski says the group effort is needed because communities the size of Ishpeming don’t have enough police manpower in the event of larger emergencies.

The plans are in the very earliest stages, and Bakalarski says the next step is to coordinate an effort with the Marquette County Sheriff’s Department.