Myerstown ponders future of its police department
By Les Stewart, Lebanon Daily News, Pa. | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
The department's future has yet to be decided, said
"We're entertaining different types of options," he said. "It could be we'll hire one or two officers."
For now, the borough's police vehicles remain garaged, and the borough relies on state police for coverage.
"We had talked about regionalization," Rittle said last week. "We're going to see if there is interest in the area."
Another option would be to subcontract police coverage to another municipality, he said.
"We don't want to rush into any one thing," Rittle said.
With the exception of the
Townships in northern
In addition to those municipalities, state police provide part-time coverage for
As far as coverage for
During his career with the state police, Tice said he has seen an increasing number of municipalities dropping police departments to rely solely on state police.
Lt.
"We have enough people to provide service," Stine said.
From
But state police also handled more serious incidents, including six robberies -- among them a bank holdup and three convenience store robberies -- and two indecent assault cases.
In recent years, officials from two
For years,
Before reaching an agreement, Seldomridge said,
Since then,
"They didn't think it would be a problem," he said.
Seldomridge said he has been pleased with the service provided.
"As far as I'm concerned, they're doing a fantastic job," he said.
In
The decision left the township with one officer -- Chief
In early 2011, state police began providing service when Noll went on sick leave. The township decided to rely on state police when Noll was unable to return to work for medical reasons, said
The costs of providing police coverage played a role in that decision, he said.
"We never could provide 24/7 coverage, so we were always relying on state police coverage," he said.
Fetter said the township has had a good working relationship with the state police. He said state police representatives attend their supervisors meetings and update them on police activity in the township. If they are unable to attend, they send a report, he said.
"If we have any questions, we just call the barracks and talk to Sgt. Tice," Fetter said.
In
The study found that state police provided full- or part-time coverage to 67 percent of
The coverage was heavily focused on rural municipalities, with 92 percent of rural municipalities and 22 percent of urban municipalities patrolled by troopers, according to the study. In the majority of cases, troopers provided full-time coverage.
In those municipalities relying on state police coverage, the top 10 incidents that troopers responded to were requests for assistance, traffic accidents, burglaries, thefts, assaults, criminal mischief and other calls such as 9-1-1 hang-up calls and disturbances, according to the study.
Four years ago, a measure was proposed in the state Legislature to charge municipalities for state police coverage. That measured and one introduced during the last legislative session died, said
The association opposed both measures, because taxpayers already pay for the state police through state taxes, he said.
Tice said in 2012 the state Legislature passed a measure that diverted some traffic citation fines from municipalities with populations greater than 3,000 and a police department with less than 40 hours of service a week to state police. Those funds will be used to help fund state police cadet classes, he said.
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