Rural township set to disband local police department in August
FREDERICKTOWN – East Bethlehem Township commissioners have reached out to at least four area police departments to patrol the rural municipality after they disband the local department in a cost savings move in August.
The board sought proposals from Centerville and regional police departments in Greene County and two others in the Mon Valley, said East Beth solicitor Blaine Black of Monongahela.
“Regionalizing, it’s the way to go,” Black said.
The commissioners have been discussing doing away with its small police department for months as they deal with declining revenues in an area defined as low-income. It costs the municipality about $100,000 a year to have one full-time officer and a few part-time patrolmen work a combined 56 hours a week.
Black said joining a regionalized police department is expected to be cheaper and result in more patrol hours. He also said the state tends to “throw out” money to municipalities that regionalize services.
The commissioners asked for proposals from the Roscoe, Elco, Stockdale and Allenport regional police department and Southwest Regional based in Belle Vernon. The other is Greene County Regional Police Department in Nineveh.
The board is still negotiating the proposals and has yet to release the costs associated with them.