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PEWAUKEE - Thursday night Pewaukee residents will go face to face over the future of their police department.

Tuesday night I went one of one with the sheriff who's proposing a new way of doing business.

We went for ride with Waukesha County Sheriff Dan Trawicki through the Village of Sussex. For more than 25 years, his deputies have been the village's police department.

"It has all the feel of city except in this particular situation it's a village," Trawicki explained.

Six Waukesha county villages and towns contract with the sheriff's department to do their policing. If approved, Pewaukee would be the first city.

Pewaukee residents have voiced their concerns. "I think Pewaukee would see far more the same, than they would different," Trawicki said.

The contract calls for a 24/7 operation. The sheriff would hire Pewaukee police officers, use squads with Pewaukee markings and save taxpayers $1 million a year.

"You have all the advantages of local control," says Trawicki, "which is, you can pretty much decide how you like your community policed."

Lisbon resident Nicki Gerach says it works in her town. "They are there when we need them," said Gerach, "I see them patrolling around town."

But Sussex resident Rob Markovich doesn't like it, "There's a lot that happens here as far as crime and they're not here to respond quickly enough."

The Pewaukee Police Department doesn't like the takeover plain either. The department's response has been, they know the community and can respond faster.

The debate will continue Thursday night.