Lansford Borough should consider regionalizing its police department, its public safety committee chairman said Thursday.

“We’ve got to stop pretending that we’re going to exist and have a little police department,” Councilman Jack Soberick said. “The days of doing this and existing as our little town are over.”

“We need to start looking at regionalization,” he said during the public safety committee meeting.

Soberick, a Carbon County detective, former borough police chief and regionalization advocate, spoke up on the subject after a brief discussion on hiring more part-time police officers and wages.

Earlier this year, council shifted some funding away from part-time police to hire a full-time officer in revising its budget. The police department accounts for nearly 40% the borough’s overall spending each year.

Soberick said that the borough can’t continue to support a small department, and a regional police force might not save money, but it certainly would give the community “more bang for your buck,” he said.

“Just remember, it’s not a cost saver,” he said. “It’s an efficient use of the money with the manpower.”

Unfortunately, every time regionalization comes up, the effort gets shot down, Soberick said. Every time area communities begin to look at combining they get mired in small details without looking at the larger scope and overall benefits, he said.

A police study proposed last year looking at combining Lansford’s and neighboring Summit Hill’s police departments never got off the ground, Soberick said.

In September, council approved sending a letter of intent to the state Department of Community and Economic Development to study regional policing.

Summit Hill agreed to support the study, as it looked at other joint efforts, such as regional trash collection. Neighboring Coaldale Borough had already entered an agreement with Tamaqua for police coverage.

“I don’t know how far that went,” Soberick said about the most recent effort. “It was talked about, slightly initiated and then it died.”

A police regionalization study takes a minimum of two years and requires a lot of statistical work from the police, mayor and council, he said.

“I’m going to bring it up at the next council meeting,” Soberick said. “It’s about a two-year process just to prepare the study.”

Soberick pointed to recent efforts, which include the newly formed West Side Regional Police Department combining Edwardsville and Larksville, and the Wyoming Area Regional Police Department, which has five participating communities, both in Luzerne County.

“Regionalization, in my mind, extends beyond police to public works, the fire department to eventually, the towns,” Soberick said. “That’s my personal opinion.”

The public safety committee also discussed possibly changing the direction of two small sections of streets to one-ways, school bus safety and possibly moving bus stops, National Night Out and officer recognition and acknowledging local fire, EMS and EMA efforts.

Soberick also noted that the public safety committee is not in charge of the police department, as that is the mayor’s responsibility, but the committee works with the mayor on public safety needs, budgeting and capital improvements.

“We do not run the police department in a day-to-day manner,” he said. “That’s up to the mayor.”

Complaints regarding police, or a specific officer, are not public safety, but fall under personnel and shouldn’t be discussed publicly, Soberick said. There are complaint forms for police, both Soberick and Mayor Denise Leibensperger said, and these will be addressed.