The chief of the Pennsylvania Economy League's central division calls it the "dirty little secret" of Pennsylvania local government.

Citing a recent Associated Press story, Gerald Cross says that two-thirds of the commonwealth's municipalities do not pay for police protection. Instead, they receive those services totally or in part for free from the Pennsylvania State Police. One recent estimate for the cost was pegged at $540 million, which was more than half of the state police's annual budget.Cross says this is another example of the commonwealth's fragmented local government system. In Pennsylvania, all municipalities are authorized to establish - but required to pay for - a full range of local government services within their boundaries, from public safety to public works. However, there is no direct requirement to provide local police protection, Cross said. Those municipalities which don't have local police forces can turn to the state police for free coverage. Some have characterized this as a blatant example of "freeloading."The state police confirm this, noting that it handles full-time protection for 1,314 of the state's 2,573 municipalities, and fills in part-time at another 402. Some of these communities are so small that they have never had a local police force; others maintained a police force at one time but decided to discontinue service.Some of the communities in Carbon County which do not have their own force are Towamensing (population 4,477), Lower Towamensing (3,259) and Penn Forest (9,581) townships.Franklin Township (pop. 4,262) relies on the state police at night, as well. In Monroe County, all four West End townships - Chestnuthill (14,418), Eldred (2,910), Polk (6,533) and Ross (5,937) - rely exclusively on state police coverage. Some small townships, such as Kidder in Carbon (pop. 1,935), and Rush (3,412) in Schuylkill, have their own police departments, as do bigger municipalities, such as Lehigh (10,527) in Northampton and Washington (6,634) in Lehigh.Most boroughs, such as Coaldale, Lansford, Lehighton, Nesquehoning, Palmerton, Slatington, Summit Hill, Tamaqua and Walnutport, have their own police forces.Lower Macungie Township (pop. 30,633), the second-largest municipality in Lehigh County, next only to Allentown, has no local police force and relies exclusively on the state police barracks at Fogelsville for its coverage.When budget crunch time occurs, as has been the case in the past decade, this can lead municipalities to cut staff, replace full-time officers with less-expensive and less-effective part-timers, or even eliminate their local police protection.Municipalities without the burden of paying for local police have a greater ability to keep taxes lower and remain financially healthier. But is it fair? Municipal officials often justify their decision by claiming that local police are too expensive or not needed because the population is so low, and crime is minimal.However, many large, wealthy communities such as the previously mentioned Lower Macungie have the financial means but simply refuse to provide local police services, Cross alleged.Having state police provides nowhere near the coverage that a local force does.While state police will respond to more major incidents, they are not designed to handle the gamut of complaints or the enforcement of local ordinances.Cross said that mandating that all municipalities have their own police departments is unrealistic. One alternative, he suggested, is to require payment for state police services. In some cases, multiple municipalities have created regional police forces with varying degrees of success. As with any attempts at regionalization, there are always turf wars that sometimes can scuttle even the noblest of intentions.A bill was introduced in 2010 in the Pennsylvania House to charge a per-resident fee to the municipalities where patrol services are provided by the state police, but the bill never got out of committee.Municipalities without local police also reap another benefit: A recent state police study showed that statewide it wrote more than $136 million in vehicle-code violations, 70 percent of them in municipalities where the state police has some official patrol responsibility. Half of those fines were returned to the municipalities where the state police cited drivers.We think it is up to the voters in each community to determine whether they want a local force. If they want their own police force, they have to understand that it comes at a price, meaning the probability of increased taxes. If they are satisfied with coverage as now provided, then they may elect the status quo.By Bruce Frassinelli |

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