Do those sort of ratios work when you get this small?
That would surprise me.
Here are some numbers for you.
Average pay for a police officer even in small towns now days, $30 an hour. Let us assume no one gets more then that for the sake of simplicity.
That is $62,400 per officer per year without over time.
Times six officers means $374,640 just in straight time. Now add in insurance, taxes, Workman's comp and bonding. Times 1.5 is for normal employees, for police, fire and rescue it is slightly over 2 but lets go with 2.
$749,280 a year.
Now equipment and building, fuel and other such stuff. Generally double it.
That is $1,498,560 a year.
There are 1600 (rounded off for ease) in the area.
That is $936.60 per resident. Not tax payer. Resident. Just for the police. So they can find lost keys.
Most places of that size have a three officers at max. There is no full coverage because it is not needed. If you need the police outside of normal business hours you call the dispatcher (who often covers police, fire and rescue) and they will call at home who ever is needed.