By Diane Petryk
LEWISBURG — When consolidating two police departments, it’s best to appoint a chief from neither.
It also is a good idea to maintain strong oversight of the new department.
More and better services can be offered. Saving money, however, should not be the prime motivation, because that might not happen.
That’s what Lewisburg and East Buffalo Township officials will be told when they visit with West Shore Regional Police commissioners Wednesday.
The West Shore police came to be about 14 years ago by combining the departments of two boroughs, Lemoyne and Wormleysburg. They’re three to five miles south and west of Harrisburg, on the western side of the Susquehanna River.
On Sunday, East Buffalo supervisors Vice Chairman Henry Baylor said he will make the trip, perhaps with fellow Supervisor Jim Buck, a few officers from each department and one or two Lewisburg officials. Lewisburg has named Mayor Judith Wagner and Councilwoman Susan Mahon to the police commission. The representatives will attend a meeting of the West Shore Regional Police Commission.
West Shore commission Chairman Thomas Martini said they will conduct regular business, but will be happy to answer questions from the eastern Union County group. Part of that regular business might concern the department’s search for a chief. Since its inception, the department had been run by only one chief, Howard Dougherty, of Lemoyne. Dougherty retired when his contract expired Jan. 31. His salary was $89,000 annually.
Lemoyne has a population of 4,000; Wormleysburg 2,650.
The boroughs’ financial contributions to the department are based on population percentages. Lemoyne’s is about 61 percent, and Wormleysburg, 49 percent, according to acting West Shore Chief James Karns.
Its police commission has two representatives from each borough, selected by the councils, and a fifth member selected by the other four members.
East Buffalo Township and Lewisburg officials have talked about using the same model in forming their police commission. Lewisburg and East Buffalo’s populations, however, are more evenly matched, at 5,620 residents and 5,730, respectively, according to the 2000 census.
West Shore Police Commissioner Dr. John Judson, a Lemoyne councilman, said it’s ridiculous for lots of tiny municipalities to maintain their own police departments, but consolidation is not easy because everyone has to give up something.
Baylor said merging departments with different programs for their employees, particularly with regard to benefits and retirement plans, is difficult. “We have to make sure everybody is taken care of,” he said.
As for police management, Karns said getting over identity issues is the first step.
“We are not the Lemoyne Police Department. We are not the Wormleysburg Police Department,” he said. “We are the West Shore police. Officers respond as needed to calls in either municipality.”
But there are lingering doubts.
“You don’t see the police like you did when you had your own,” Martini said. That may have been because Lemoyne was the alpha dog of the two municipalities, he said. And the police chief, Judson pointed out, was the part-time borough manager for Lemoyne.
As of March, Lemoyne has a full-time manager with no connection to the police commission. Dougherty, however, is running for a borough council seat and could, conceivably, be appointed to the police commission.
Wormleysburg Mayor George Preble, also a police commissioner, said the police themselves try to control things.
“The commission should run the show and watch the finances and staffing,” he said. “Where’s the money being spent and what’s it being spent for. … You’re dealing with public money.”
This is the thing to watch out for, Martini said. “Set up transparency,” he said. “The police commission needs to be in control. You have to have commissioners who have their nose in the business. If you don’t watch the business, nobody will.”
Martini emphasized that a new, merged department should have a new leader without allegiance to either of the former departments.
“We’re on the right track now, but you can learn from our experience,” he said. “It took more than 10 years.”
“Some people in those boroughs still think they run the police department,” Preble said. “That’s one thing you have to get over. We don’t take orders from Lemoyne, and we don’t take orders from Wormleysburg.”
Karns said mergers work to the advantage of residents. “It’s all been positive. It’s the same people you knew before,” Karns said. “They’re just wearing different uniforms.”
And the more officers the better, he said.
“In one little department, you’re not going to have specially assigned detectives, a school resource officer, a canine officer, bicycle patrol and forensics. ... The more officers in the pool, the more you’re able to do that. You can spring an officer longer to do special work.”
There also is time for additional training, Judson said. “It makes for a better police department.”
Initially, monetary savings come from eliminating the extra command salaries, Karns said. It varies, but generally a chief costs $15,000 to $20,000 more than a patrolman, he said. And there are some other duplications that can be eliminated, Preble said.
“But I’ll be honest with you,” Karns said. “If you’re looking at this strictly from the basis of cost-savings, you’re looking at the wrong thing. It’s about services, not cost-savings.”
