In the wake of the largest drug bust in the town's history, Coaldale's police chief would like to see an additional officer added to the force.

Chief Keith Krapf used his written report at Tuesday's council meeting to ask the board to consider adding a new officer.He said that the borough is currently without one of its three full-time officers."As times of our society are changing, call volumes, case loads and day-to-day operations of the police department have increased," Krapf said in his report. "We are currently down a full-time officer."Last month, police arrested a man in the borough and recovered 350 grams of suspected methamphetamine, 19 grams of suspected heroin, and a large amount of marijuana.The suspect in the case, Jerry Breck, is being held at Schuylkill County Prison on $100,000 bail.The head of council's police committee, Yvonne Stoffey, expressed thanks to Krapf and his officers for their work. She also cited their recent work with the borough's code enforcement officer to clear out dilapidated homes."I cannot be more proud of Chief Krapf and our whole department," she said.Stoffey said she supports Krapf's request.She said that she would be willing to work with borough treasurer Anissa Nunemacher to make it work in the budget."As far as a full-time officer, I can't support it enough. I know we have to look at the budget, but I'm willing to sit down with Anissa as often as she can to try and find money," she said.The borough has looked at grants to fund police in the past, particularly a program offered by the Department of Justice.Stoffey said that she recently met with a grant writer who told her that Coaldale probably wouldn't win the grant because the Department of Justice has put an emphasis on communities with violent crime and other issues."It's going to be given to towns with violent crimes, homeland security issues and illegal immigration. Nothing to do with drugs, so she suggested we not try for it," Stoffey said.Stoffey said she hopes to assemble some preliminary numbers to assess the cost of a new officer.Council also scheduled meetings to plan the 2018 budget Tuesday night. They will meet to begin discussing the budget in August.In his report, Krapf said the new officer is necessary to continuing to enforce the law in the borough."The safety of our officers and borough residents is paramount to my position. It is my opinion that an additional officer is warranted to continue a proactive approach to crimes in our borough," Krapf wrote.