Palmerton isn’t interested in a police regionalization study proposed by Carbon County District Attorney Michael Greek.

Borough council on Thursday opted not to participate in the study, citing a prior study in 2013 chief among the reasons why.

Council President Terry Costenbader noted that two studies were done, the most recent in 2013.

Costenbader said that was to have been done among the borough, Bowmanstown, Lower Towamensing Township and Towamensing Township, but others chose not to go into it.

“I don’t see the point in going through this,” Costenbader said. “I really don’t.”

Borough Police Chief Tim Kromer agreed, and added that he didn’t see a study being worth it as this point.

Kromer said a regionalization would be extremely difficult for the borough’s police department because it wouldn’t have anyone to partner with.

Palmerton isn’t alone in its viewpoint.

Earlier this month, Jim Thorpe Borough voted to reject any regionalization possibilities for its police department.

However, other areas are looking at a regionalization study. Summit Hill Mayor Jeffrey Szczecina told his council that Greek will meet with representatives of the three Panther Valley boroughs - Summit Hill, Lansford and Nesquehoning - to further discuss the concept. Lehighton Borough has also said it would consider discussing the idea further.

Greek sent a letter to municipalities saying, “The current political and economic climate has made it even more difficult to hire and retain law enforcement officers or provide for adequate facilities, equipment and training. This obviously has a direct effect on the safety and security of our communities.”

He encouraged boroughs to “reach out to your neighboring municipal leaders to consider regionalization of police forces.”

The benefits of regionalization include improvement in uniformity and consistency of enforcement; coordination of law enforcement services; recruitment; distribution and deployment of police personnel; training and personnel efficiency; management and supervision; improved specialization of services; greater accessibility to grants and reduction in overall costs, Greek said.

“As the Chief Law Enforcement Officer of Carbon County, I cannot stress how critical the need for regionalization is at the present time. Many of our local departments lack sufficient personnel to even consider shifts let alone the ability to properly investigate reported incidents.”

Greek previously outlined the next step.

“The first step is getting towns to participate, be willing to at least take part in a survey to determine the cost that would be involved,” Greek said. “Kind of like a feasibility study.”

He said there is grant money available to do that through the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, and noted that the state Department of Community and Economic Development also provides funding for regionalization studies.

“It’s important that they want to look at it,” he said. “Right now, there’s a decrease in the number of police officers across the country.”

That’s why “there’s a need to look at a larger regional body of police officers that can cover a geographic area,” Greek said.

“The more municipalities that you get in, the more costs are shared across the board,” he said. “You’re going to see a better trained force, more specialized force, dedicated detectives.”

Greek has seen “an increase in crime in our entire county, in both the quantity and nature in crime.

“We have higher numbers, and it’s not what it used to be. Now, you’re seeing a lot more sex cases, a lot more cyber crime, an increase in quantity, as well as an increase in the nature of the crimes.”

Greek said he’s willing to meet with any of the municipal leaders.

Combining police services has been a topic of discussion throughout municipalities over the years.

In October, Lansford Borough Council held a public safety committee with Summit Hill Council members and the police chiefs from each borough.

At that time, they discussed how the shortage of officers has affected their ability to respond to incidents out of town.

There was preliminary discussion in 2016 about Franklin and Mahoning townships contracting with Lehighton Borough for police services.

Back in July of 1999, Lehighton Borough Council tabled action to participate in a state-funded study of a proposed regional police department.