Canonsburg Police Department begins providing police service to Houston Borough
Karen Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
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The boroughs of Houston and Canonsburg now share more than West Pike Street. Starting at 7 a.m. on Friday, Canonsburg Police Department began providing around-the-clock police coverage for its neighboring borough.
“This is a pretty big deal for Houston. It will be the first time in the more than 20 years since I’ve been mayor that we’ll have 24/7 police coverage, and that’s significant for this community,” said Houston Mayor James Stubenbordt.
Canonsburg Deputy Chief Don Cross and Sgt. Dennis Cole, accompanied by Stubenbordt, Canonsburg Mayor David Rhome and Houston officials gathered along West Pike Street when the new shift got underway.
Houston council voted in March to dissolve its police department and instead rely on Canonsburg police for services.
Under the agreement, Houston will pay Canonsburg about $337,000 over a three-year period to provide police services 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“We’re very pleased as a police department to be able to assist Houston Borough with their public safety needs, and we will have patrols down here on a regular basis every day,” said Cross. “We’ll be responding to all calls for services, investigations, special services; the entire gamut of law enforcement will be handled from our department for Houston residents moving forward today as of 7 a.m.”
In addition to providing more services, the coverage provided by Canonsburg police is expected to lead to faster response times for police service in Houston, which encompasses one square mile and has welcomed several new businesses over the past couple of years, including a Sheetz gas station that is set to open next week.
“It’s the best decision we could make. That has always been our main priority in the borough – to provide police coverage for our residents. In the past, we had to wait for state police and it would take a while for them to get here because of their coverage area. It takes like two minutes to get from Canonsburg here,” said Stubenbordt.
Rhome said Houston residents should call 911 in an emergency, and Canonsburg police will respond. Residents also can call a non-emergency number, 724-745-8020, Monday through Friday, for non-emergency issues.
“We are ready to start answering calls for the citizens of Houston,” said Rhome.
Canonsburg Police Department hired an additional full-time police officer in order to address the new patrol responsibilities.