Police Regionalization Plan Presented

Last night, at a sparsely attended meeting, the Doylestown Public Safety Committee had a presentation to go over the Regional Police Study for the public.

It proposes merging Doylestown, Doylestown Township, New Britain, New Britain Township, and Plumstead Township into one combined police force.

Borough Manager John Davis gave a brief history of the project, which has been kicked around in various conceptions since the early 1980s. This latest iteration once saw Warwick as part of the plan, and only recently added New Britain Township and Plumstead Township.

Chief Jim Donnelly gave highlights of the actual plan and its various benefits.

The regional force would initially use Doylestown Township's and Plumstead Township's police facilities; it would be hoped that five years later on a plan to build a single station at a more central location would then proceed.

Nine patrol regions would be staffed by 66 officers; this is 2 less than current combined totals and that reduction would be by attrition. Additionally, even though a new command structure would have to be created, John Davis stressed that no one would be asked to reduce their rank.

Bigger cost savings would come via a fleet reduction from 52 vehicles to 40. Council President Det Ansinn spoke to this being one of the more obvious economies of scale. Savings on expensive police radios would also be realized.

Overall, combined cost savings were expected to total $1.1 million for the first year for the five joining municipalities.

Following the presentation, Mayor Libby White stated she felt the merge would place Doylestown in a "positive and healthy position" and that everyone needs to "take the long view" of the benefits to the borough.

Det Ansinn stated that the further the budget projections go out, the regional budget goes up at a stable, flat rate, while the budgets for remaining separate, "start to hockey stick." Committee chair Dennis McCauley—a 27-year police veteran—liked that the larger force would allow specializations like anti-drug units and cyber crime not currently possible as individual departments.

Joan Doyle expressed some concern with response time given the map of proposed patrols; Chief Donnelly explained that map would vary based on day and time to ensure safe police coverage to all.

Resident Brad Hedrick asked why, if the state has been pushing for regionalizations since at least the 1960s, there's not a Gold Rush to do it. Chief Donnelly said that if it were just up to cops, it would've been done long ago, and Det Ansinn and John Davis stressed that getting five towns to cooperate to the degree being done now is simply very tough and very rare.

Fire Marshal Kelli Scarlett added that in the past there were far fewer tasks that officers needed to worry about, so the impetus to join forces simply wasn't there.

Mr. Hedrick also wondered what our backup plan is if the merge goes sour. The chief flatly stated that there is none. Det Ansinn commented, "we're focused on success," while John Davis agreed that there does have to be a way out, but "it can't be easy."

After public comment ended, all committee members voted and voted in favor of recommending the plan to the full council.

The next step is a July 24 meeting for the public with all five municipalities in attendance, which will be held at Lenape Middle School.