EDITORIAL: Gutting of Frackville PD a preventable exacerbation of ongoing crisis
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL FILE - A Frackville Police vehicle in August 2019.
Not long ago, the larger boroughs in northern Schuylkill County all had full-time local police coverage. Today, only one does, and all are striving to return to or maintain full staffing. All, apparently except one.
Ask any local police chief or municipal leader and they’ll tell you it’s difficult to find and keep qualified patrol officers in places like Shenandoah, Ashland, Frackville or Mahanoy City. In 2016, all four maintained 24/7 local police coverage. Today, only Mahanoy City does, according to the State Police.
There are less applicants to go around, less people passing the civil service exams necessary for a full-time position in some communities, and much better pay to be found in neighboring counties.
Kutztown borough in Berks County posted to Facebook that they were seeking applications for a patrol officer position with first year’s pay being $81,000, with a $5,000 hiring bonus and a $5,000 retention bonus added on. After three years, that pay would increase to “in excess of $101,000 a year” not including overtime pay. Kutztown has a similar year-round population to Shenandoah borough, and its namesake university is located in neighboring Maxatawny Township.
Shenandoah starts at $48,000 with incremental increases topping out at $60,000 after four years of service, also not including overtime.
The City of Hazleton starts $51,000 with annual increases to $62,293.79 after three years.
State Police, whom Shenandoah lost two officers to several years ago, starts at $65,763, not including overtime.
The addition of police forces at Shenandoah Valley and Mahanoy Area schools further shrinks the applicant pool.
With a shrinking applicant pool and the difficulty our local municipalities face remaining competitive on a regional level, one would think retention of qualified and experienced officers would be a priority.
What we have seen over the past year in the mountain city would say otherwise, at least there.
A problem exists in the Frackville Police Department and its regional impacts will be felt here in Shenandoah and every municipality surrounding Frackville. The responsibility for determining the problem’s cause and solution, however, lies with borough council.
Sailors do not abandon ship if the vessel is still buoyant.
The past two months have seen two longtime officers leave the Frackville police force, one who said he wanted to retire from the borough. Two other longtime officers left in the prior year.
In the meantime, no new full-time officers have been hired, and the department is down to one full-time employee, the police chief.
The coverage Frackville has, as a crossroads town of about 4,000 people, is now similar to what the rural Ringtown Valley municipalities have, when, just a few years ago, Frackville had one of the larger forces in the county.
Additionally, when Shenandoah Police have responded to violent crime in the borough and needed assistance, Frackville, along with Mahanoy City and West Mahanoy Township, were often the first backup units to arrive.
Now, outside of a few hours a day, Shenandoah officers have one less department to rely on when necessary. The same goes for Ashland, Butler Township, and any other municipality that relied on Frackville for mutual aid assistance. Ex-officers have also said that mutual aid cannot be provided unless they are specifically dispatched.
Additionally, Frackville has a contract with Gilberton borough to provide 24/7 police coverage. While today’s staffing challenges make that a difficult task on its own, Frackville has done itself no favors by apparently failing to listen to concerns voiced by each officer who resigned.
When Shenandoah Borough Council was confronted earlier this month about issues with the department, council promised their law and order committee would meet with the mayor and police chief to find solutions.
However, when Frackville was confronted earlier this month, council did not consider any of the resignations to be the result of internal issues or publicly commit to investigating why officers were leaving and what they could do, if anything, to solve the problem.
It is already hard enough to find and keep qualified and experienced officers locally. There is only so much a municipality can do with external challenges or budgetary concerns. If no applications come in, or another municipality offers double the starting salary, that’s one thing.
But, the municipality has (or should have) full control over its internal workings and, if it is an internal issue driving officers away, the municipality owes it to its community and the region to find and solve that issue.
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