Slatington’s mayor encouraged the council this week to hire more police officers for the borough.

Mayor Jeralyn Schoch read a letter laying out her request. She said staffing problems and an increase in duties are making it harder for the officers to uphold high standards in their work.

“These officers have taken that responsibility with the utmost professionalism and continue to maintain a desire to make the department stronger and more efficient,” Schoch said.

“Year to date, officers have handled 2,919 incident reports and have a total of 88 arrests for various criminal violations. It should be noted that each arrest removes a patrol officer from the road, which could last for several hours and require transportation of the offender to Lehigh County Jail for processing and arraignment.”

Currently, the Slatington Borough Police Department includes the police chief, a sergeant, and four other full-time officers, Schoch said. Because of the small staff, officers often have to work longer than 12 hours per shift or are working continuous days without a day off to ensure all of the shifts are covered.

“This type of work environment can be detrimental to the officers’ mental and physical well-being and is likely to cause the officers to burn out and leave for employment with another agency or to leave the profession altogether,” Schoch said.

Borough manager Dan Stevens said in an interview that in past years, the borough has employed several part-time police officers to help fill in coverage hours, but there aren’t any on staff right now. The borough is in the process of hiring another full-time officer and is waiting for all of the paperwork to be completed.

Stevens said that in the 2023 budget, the borough set aside $595,000 to cover the salaries and benefits of the full-time police officers; $95,000 for the police chief; and $100,000 for part-time officers.

When the council decide to hire an additional full-time officer, the $100,000 for part-time officers was moved to the budget for full-time officers. Now, there is nothing in the budget for part-time officers.

As for 2024, the budget is being worked on. Currently, there isn’t anything budgeted for part-time officers in the 2024 budget, Stevens said.

Schoch would like to have more officers (full or part-time), a detective, and a secretary (full or part-time). A detective could investigate the crimes that have occurred, which would allow the officers to concentrate on patrols. And a full-time secretary or two part-time secretaries would help the department catch up on administrative duties.

Stevens said he understands Schoch’s request, but there are many things the borough has to put money toward, such as roads and the fire department. He knows the officers are very busy.

Slatington’s officers also respond to emergency calls in Washington Township, because they are closer than the state police, Stevens said.

“If you have an emergency call, the Slatington police answer it,” said.

Not answering it, isn’t an option.

“That’s not in their mentality. We have to go,” he said.