Marionville revives police dept. following AMPD split

The Marionville Police Department has been reestablished following a split from the Aurora Police Department.
The city of Aurora chose not to renew their agreement with Marionville, effectively separating their police forces. The decision was made in a closed session council meeting in 2025.
The two departments have operated jointly for some time under the title Aurora Marionville Police Department, but no longer, according to Mark Webb, chief of the newly reformed Marionville Police Department.
Following the split, the city of Marionville brought back their former chief of police in Webb to serve while the city looks for a replacement. Webb possesses 45 years of law enforcement experience and was the chief of the police department before the merger, taking a back seat to Aurora chief Wes Coatney once they joined forces.
Webb said that the goal for Marionville is to get their police department to where it was before the merger. A big part of that is getting new officers up to speed, as their most veteran officer, aside from Webb, has five years of experience.

Law enforcement coverage
Currently, Marionville only has four active officers plus Webb, having hired two of them recently. Ideally, the city would have six officers plus Webb, three per shift. Their current staff should serve for basic functions, but more would be optimal because of the nature of the required duties, said Webb. He explained that officers need regular training, sick days, and time off for life events.
“You know seven days a week, 24 hours a day, it’s hard to cover that with just four officers,” said Webb. “That’s part of the reason they put [the police departments] together… so there would be officers all the time instead of having to wait for the sheriff.”
Webb said that reestablishing the police department could help with response time, however. He said that, because Aurora is bigger and has more issues, officers would often spend more time working on issues in that municipality. With the departments split, Marionville can focus on home more efficiently.
“Sometimes Marionville has taken the back seat on some of that,” said Webb. “Marionville… it’s still got issues, you know, like anywhere else. It’s got drugs and stealing and domestic violence; it’s all the same.”
The ties between the police departments are not completely severed, though; should the city of Marionville ever require it, the Aurora Police Department will still answer the call, ensuring the coverage will not be any worse than before.
Looking to the future, the Marionville Police Department will have to update their equipment in addition to adding onto their personnel, but despite the large amount of ground to cover, Webb is optimistic about the future of the department.
“We’re just looking forward to giving Marionville the best police service we can give them,” he said.