Upper Burrell officials are once again gauging the interest of surrounding municipalities in forming a regional police department.
Township supervisors mailed letters to Lower Burrell, New Kensington and Allegheny and Washington townships to gauge their interest in forming a "fact-finding body" to examine the feasibility of a regionalized police force study by the state's Department of Community and Economic Development.
"If enough interest is gathered, the 'body' would meet to present each community's views and vision of how, or if, our citizens and governments could benefit from a regionalized approach to policing. If this project is launched, it would be a fact-finding mission only and would bear no obligation other than attending informal discussion that may or may not lead to an agreement among leaders to move forward with a formalized request for a PA DCED impact study," said the letter, dated Feb. 1.
Upper Burrell sent letters of interest to surrounding municipalities about possible police regionalization about a year ago, but not much came of it, said Supervisors Chairman Ross G. Walker III.
"We have 2,500 kingdoms (municipalities) in Pennsylvania, and everybody wants their independence," Walker said. "You have to work together today, you really do. Nobody wants to give anything up, but it's a winning proposition working with another police department."
According to the DCED, Pennsylvania has more police departments than any other state in the country. Eighty-three percent of the departments in the state are staffed by fewer than 10 police officers.
In Upper Burrell, there are two full-time officers, including the chief.
"Across our country, it is becoming more and more evident that communities are facing an uphill battle with quality staffing and manpower issues of its police departments," the letter said. "Police academies are experiencing never before seen enrollment losses, resulting in smaller candidate pools to fill the ranks once occupied by veteran officers.
"We believe, at this rate, the current model to combat turnover is not sustainable for the near future and beyond."
Walker said Monday he had not heard back from any of the municipalities regarding police reorganization.
He said Upper Burrell met with Washington Township officials previously, but those officials were interested in absorbing Upper Burrell's police force.
"Absorbing is not going to be good for us. We don't want to absorb. We want to regionalize," Walker said.
"If we regionalize, we're part of the whole. If we are absorbed, we would lose all of our equipment and our police department. And if anything would happen, we would be at zero. We'd rather be part of a larger regionalization."
Attempts to reach a Washington Township official were unsuccessful.
Lower Burrell Mayor Chris Fabry said he had not received the letter and couldn't comment.
"As chairperson of the Alle-Kiski Intergovernmental Council, which includes New Kensington, Upper Burrell and six other local communities, I am always interested in researching how we can all better our communities through regional programs," New Kensington Mayor Tom Guzzo said. "We would certainly be interested in discussing the possibilities and hearing from the other communities and seeing how it would benefit everyone."
Said Allegheny Township Supervisors Chairman James Morabito: "I don't have a problem as long as there's no cost to the township with the DCED impact study. It never hurts to know where everyone stands in a community, but I think it's something very far down the road that anything would ever be formalized."
Walker believes regionalization could save Upper Burrell about $50,000 to $75,000 each year and provide more service to residents because more officers would be on duty at a time.
State police currently assist Upper Burrell with coverage, Walker said.
"We've always had no debt in the township, low taxes, and this would be a continuation of greater service and lower cost. We'd be there 24/7 every day with regionalization," he said.
"Regionalization has been done so many other places and it's very successful, and there's no reason it wouldn't be successful in our area."
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