Tamaqua Mayor Chris Morrison visited a public meeting of Coaldale Borough Council on Tuesday to encourage the board to join several communities in asking the state to study whether a regional police department would work.

Coaldale council later agreed to join in the request for the study, to be done free of charge by the state department of Community and Economic Development. Morrison said that in addition to Tamaqua, West Penn, Schuylkill and Walker townships have agreed to join the request.Rush Township supervisors have also talked about forming a regional police department.Coaldale Councilman Tom Keerans said that while there would be no charge, the study would take time from the police chief.The study, which could take more than a year, would look at each borough's crime rate, budget, police force and population, among other factors.About five years ago, Nesquehoning, Lansford and Summit Hill ventured into the possibility of joining police forces. The three small boroughs would have saved money and improved their policing, a study by DCED concluded. But the concept was dropped after Nesquehoning decided to opt out.After Morrison spoke Tuesday to Coaldale council, Mayor Richard Corkery asked him if he could help Coaldale to "get out of the Panther Valley School District and into Tamaqua." Morrison said he could not help Corkery with that.