Regional police force mulled in Canton

BY ERIC HRIN (Staff Writer)
Published: May 27, 2011

Article Tools
Font size: [A] [A] [A]
Sign Up newsletter

Photo: N/A, License: N/A, Created: 2011:05:26 13:40:24

Review Photo/ERIC HRIN Canton Mayor John Vineski attended a meeting on the feasibility of a regional police force for the Troy-Canton area Thursday in Canton. Here, he holds some papers regarding the issue.

Photo: N/A, License: N/A, Created: 2011:05:26 13:40:24

Review Photo/ERIC HRIN Canton Mayor John Vineski attended a meeting on the feasibility of a regional police force for the Troy-Canton area Thursday in Canton. Here, he holds some papers regarding the issue.

CANTON - The feasibility of forming a regional police department for the Troy-Canton area was discussed in an informational meeting in Canton Thursday.

"I was really impressed with it," Canton Mayor John Vineski said. "I think everybody got a lot of information they can take back to their respective municipalities."

Representatives from Canton Borough, Troy Borough, Canton Township, Troy Township, and Alba Borough attended the meeting with Ron Stern of the state Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED).

Vineski said the biggest issue discussed was the financial responsibility involved. While Troy and Canton boroughs have their own police departments, state police provide coverage in Canton and Troy townships and Alba Borough. For the two townships and Alba, Vineski said, the start-up costs for a regional police department would be significant, though no numbers were yet available.

Funding is available, Vineski said, but "it's not as much as it used to be."

"He (Stern) said his budget has been slashed with the recent cuts that the governor has been making, and he doesn't have the monies to work with like he used to, but he's going to take this information back to Harrisburg and he's going to mull it over and give us a proposal, or maybe a couple of proposals of which way to go with this," he said.

"We can go with just Troy and Canton boroughs at this time and grow," Vineski said in discussing one option for a regional police force. Currently, the two police departments are separate.

"And then as that works its way through, then we could extend arms out to the other municipalities that are directly around us, which would be Troy Township, Canton Township, and Alba Borough, and offer services to them that would come from a consolidated department or a regional department, however DCED decides to set it up," he said. "The other option is having all five municipalities in a regional department."

Vineski said DCED is involved because "they're the ones that have to do the study to make sure that it's going to be feasible."

"They help you get the regional department going," he said.

According to Vineski, the "one good thing" is that all five municipalities taking part in the discussion are served by the same Magisterial District Court. "You don't have different District Justices to worry about," he said.

"Way down the road" in the future, Vineski said, a regional police department could grow even farther into western Bradford County. "It all remains to be seen how it starts," he said. "We've got to get the starting block in there before we can branch out."

Vineski noted that House Bill 1228 would amend Title 44 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes, and would impose a fee for service on municipalities for patrol services provided by the Pennsylvania State Police. With a regional police force, Vineski said, instead of paying the state as proposed under the bill, "they (the municipalities) could pay us." Vineski also contends that if the police force is regionalized, it could provide better coverage for western Bradford County "as opposed to waiting for the state police to get here."

He said another meeting is planned for around September.

Eric Hrin can be reached at (570) 297-5251; e-mail: reviewtroy@thedailyreview.com.

Ads by Yahoo!
We welcome user discussion on our site, under the following guidelines:

To comment you must first create a profile and sign-in with a verified DISQUS account or social network ID. Sign up here.

Comments in violation of the rules will be denied, and repeat violators will be banned. Please help police the community by flagging offensive comments for our moderators to review. By posting a comment, you agree to our full terms and conditions. Click here to read terms and conditions.
comments powered by Disqus