To turn a phrase, where there is no will, there is no way. It seems clear there is no will in Groton to provide more fiscally efficient police coverage.

Groton, a community of 45 square miles and roughly 40,000 people, has three police departments, which is three times as many as Boston and Hartford.

There is the Town of Groton Police Department, the City of Groton Police Department and the Groton Long Point Police Department.

The town department, paid for with taxes leveled on all property owners in Groton, including those in the City of Groton and on Long Point, protects those sections of town outside the city and Long Point.

The City of Groton Police Department protects only the City of Groton, a governmental subdivision within the town located along the Thames River on its western border. City property owners pay an additional tax for the city police and other services.

Groton Long Point police patrol the affluent seaside community on the south side of Groton that juts into Long Island Sound. Property owners in Long Point also pay an added tax.

Traditionally, town tax dollars are diverted to both the city and Long Point departments to subsidize their police protection.

Got it?

Any objective observation leads to the conclusion this makes no sense. But a meeting last week between town and city officials made clear there is no path forward to changing it. Inertia prevails.

Groton had commissioned a $49,000 study to look at the situation. Unsurprisingly, it pointed toward savings that could be achieved by merging services. Groton leaders did not want to hear this, particularly those representing the city and Groton Long Point. They've concluded their constituents are satisfied with the down-home police services.

At the recent meeting, they picked apart the consultant study, pointing to inconsistencies.

Of course, no one needed a study to know that it costs more to have three departments, with three police chiefs and associated leadership positions, protecting one relatively small town.

But blessed with a healthy tax base, Groton has decided it can afford triplication.

Which doesn't mean there won't be some fights to come on how to expend dollars among the three departments. But as for wholesale change - it's not happening, though it should.