Cops are not Cheap

This is a typical local government story about the unlimited wants of citizens and how municipalities try to pay for them. I wanted to provide some perspective on how much things cost in terms that would be easily understood by any reader. In this case starting a police force in a community that does not have one.

BY ALAN FOSTER
Patriot-News

As communities grow, so do their problems. More roads. More water and sewer lines. More parks, and unfortunately more crime. Not always the television-type crimes like murder and holdups, but everyday events like domestic violence, burglary and speeding.
West Hanover supervisor Gloria Zimmerman has seen some of this growth in her Dauphin county township and feels it is about time the township consider it’s own police force.

“I think it’s time we think about a police force,” Zimmerman said at a recent supervisors meeting. Zimmerman was responding to a complaint about speeding from a township resident. The woman had allowed the state police to use her home as a speed trap, and with in an hour the officer had issued four tickets to drivers who had zoomed past the woman’s home.

“It is becoming necessary with new building and new development. Pet paths are a gateway to (residents) backdoors,” Zimmerman said. “We also have the truck stop. There were nine arrests for prostitution last week and six this week. The state police are wonderful and I respect them, but they can only do so much.”

There is nothing new about small communities (West Hanover’s population is about 7,000) having their own police protection, but the issue is commitment and cost. When a township decides to start a police force it needs to hire, train and equip the officers, it needs to purchase cruisers, communication equipment and find a place to house the new branch of local government. Also, a police force can easily take over the budget of a community.

Hummelstown is a community of 4,300 residents and has a police force of seven full-time and five part-time officers. “We spend about $500,000 per year on our force, which is just under half of our total budget,” Mike O’Keefe Hummelstown Borough manager said. O’Keefe said health insurance alone is $10,000 per year per family.

Cops are not cheap. The second largest force in Dauphin County is the 50-officer force in Lower Paxton Township. According to township manager George Wolfe Lower Paxton spends 3.7 million for this force with another $500,000 for benefits. That figure includes support for six clerical staff and school crossing guards. Wolfe said his township (which borders W. Hanover) is interested in providing police protection to West Hanover.

“It (contracting police protection to West Hanover) has been talked about for years, and they were fairly active talks seven years ago. We are receptive to it, but we’ve had no formal request for a proposal,” Wolfe said.

There are four options available to smaller communities in Dauphin County. The first is no force of your own, with all of your coverage provided by the Pennsylvania state police. This is an option that works very for many communities, the only drawback being slow response time when there is an increase in calls at a given time.

The second is, your own local officers, paid for, equipped and housed by the township. He third is belonging to a regional force where several communities join together to provide protection. This is now being studied in northern Dauphin county. And the fourth is to contract police protection with a neighboring municipality. All of these options are available to West Hanover.

Even a fictional force like the one from television’s Mayberry would cost $150,000 per year today, just to keep Andy and Barney on the job.