Should Lower Macungie Have its Own Police Force?

By Jack Tobias 

Lower Macungie residents will have a chance to talk about a study on township police coverage at a forum Tuesday night.

The forum starts at 7 at the township community center, 3450 Brookside Road.

The township now gets its police coverage from state police at Fogelsville—and saves $4 million to $5 million per year by not having its own department, according to a memo from a co-author of the police study.

Whether to drop state police and create a township police force, join with other municipalities in a regional force, or create some other kind of coverage have been on-again, off-again issues in Lower Macungie for years.

• What do you think? Should Lower Macungie have its own police force? Tell us in the comments.

The township has more population (currently estimated at 31,000) than Easton, Whitehall, South Whitehall and Upper Macungie, but unlike those places, it does not have its own police department. (Upper Macungie rolled out its own force Dec. 31, 2012.)

It also hasn't had a property tax since 2003, although the township has proposed a 2014 budget with a .33-mill property tax.

As for the police study, "we're at the very beginning of the process of trying to find out some of the alternatives out there," Scott Forbes, chairman of the township Public Safety Commission, told Patch on Monday. The commission is a volunteer group that advises township government, he said.

Forbes, noting that state police have done an "excellent job" for the township, also said of the study, "The whole purpose of this exercise is a way to get that background information. It wasn't to make a decision.

"It's for the board [of commissioners] in the event they ever have to follow through with the process" of deciding what kind of police coverage the township should have, Forbes said.

The police study is being done for $8,000 by Gary and AnnMarie Cordner, criminal justice professors at Kutztown University. Gary Cordner, appointed interim mayor of Macungie earlier this year, was elected to a full term as mayor last week. The Cordners are husband and wife.

The memo about the police study—it's posted on the township website—serves as a preview to Tuesday's meeting. Gary Cordner writes in the memo that the study will be completed by Dec. 31. Also, he says the study will not offer any recommendations, "only options with associated costs and benefits."

Cordner writes:

"The 'bottom line' is largely unchanged from previous police services studies. Lower Macungie Township has a low crime rate and a relatively low demand for police service, in spite of significant population growth and proximity to Pennsylvania’s third-largest city [Allentown]. The police services currently provided are highly professional, albeit at a relatively low level.

"A drawback of the current arrangement is that the residents and elected leaders of the township have little or no influence over the police services that are provided, since it is a state agency that provides those services. The benefit is that the township is not burdened with the cost of policing or the substantial administrative responsibility that accompanies a separate local police department."

The memo concludes: "Fundamentally, the situation is one in which the township needs to decide [as it has in the past] what level of police service it wants in conjunction with how much it wishes to spend for that service."

At least one citizens group has made its feelings known when it comes to police coverage. The Lower Macungie Township Citizens for Change writes on its website that it wants the township to keep state police.

Its statement makes reference to a proposal in the state House that would have imposed fees on municipalities for state police coverage. Part of the statement reads:

"With our very low crime rate, the excellent job that the Pennsylvania state police is doing for us, the diminished prospects of [the House bill] imposing policing fees becoming law anytime soon, and the 2009 and 2010 surveys/polls indicating a low interest in expanding upon our current level of police protection, we seriously question the need, based on current facts, to move rapidly down a path away from reliance on the state police, and thus incurring significant costs to the citizens of Lower Macungie Township."

Another supporter of keeping state police is Ron Beitler, one of two newcomers elected to the board of commissioners last week. Beitler, who was endorsed by the Citizens for Change, has served on the group's executive board, according to the group's website.

The other newcomer elected as commissioner—and endorsed by Citizens for Change—was Brian Higgins. A third commissioners candidate—incumbent Ryan Conrad—was re-elected last week.

Beitler, in an email to Patch on Monday, summarized his views on the police issue:

"A move away from the PSP should be based on a 'need' not a 'want.' Right now, Lower Macungie Township has statistically low crime rates. Lower Macungie has the 7th-lowest crime rate out of 35 of the largest townships in the state. Considering we are adjacent to the 3rd largest city in the commonwealth, that is a pretty powerful statistic. The numbers and data are also a testament to the job the Pennsylvania State Police do.

"Any alternative path, such as a municipal police department, will create for LMT a significant long-term cost burden that will only grow with time. Further, there is no backing away once this course is chosen. On average, local municipal police departments can cost up to 1/3 of a community's total budget to sustain."

Peter Pavlovic, a township resident and retired police officer, spoke in favor of a police department in a report in The Morning Call. Cordner wrote:

—The $4 million to $5 million per year the township saves by not having its own force comes to about $150 per resident.

—Lower Macungie "is unusual" in not having its own force. Its estimated 2013 population of 31,000 represents a 60 percent increase since 2000. It's the second-largest township in the state relying solely upon state police for coverage.

—More than 80 percent of Part 1 crimes in the township in 2012 were thefts, while overall state police activity in the township increased between 2010 and 2012, with arrests more than doubling and traffic citations increaasing by almost 50 percent.

—State police do not routinely respond to such incidents as parking complaints, animal complaints, lockouts, ambulance calls and township ordinance violations.