On a three to two vote, the Lancaster Township Safety Committee voted to recommend the supervisors accept a proposal from Manheim Township to provide police service because it came to only a little of $1 million while the City of Lancaster’s proposal was for either $1.65 or $1.7.
The price offered by MT should be of concern to MT citizenry, because a reliable source has indicated that MT police have made no effort to obtain information from the City concerning numbers of incidents and other pertinent information.
Furthermore, if the MT proposal is too low, they will be prone to cut corners somewhere.
Even more important, since the purpose of having police is to protect citizens in the circumstances of an emergency, the MT proposal lacks credibility. What use are police if they cannot respond in force to an emergency?
A map of the Township demonstrates how it is broken into segments separated from one another, but each with a common border with the City of Lancaster. The township wraps around the City from west to south to east, with the largest population west and a large portion east, but likely trouble spots to the south.
Manheim Township is north of the City!
When problems occur, good policing requires multiple responses. When driving, one often encounters three or four police cars at an incident. When there is a problem, it is dangerous for a single car, sometimes with only one officer, to respond. Rather than controlling matters, the arrival of a lone police person can enflame them.
But when several police cars respond, the dynamics are totally different. Calm is quickly achieved. Reason prevails. Both officers and citizens are protected.
Obviously the City can mobilize multiple responses within minutes. What can Manheim Township do other than send cars across the city to reach a fracas on the south end? How long will that take? Are there going to be MT police cars with sirens blaring racing from north to south through downtown Lancaster?
Lancaster Township supervisor’s prime responsibility is citizen safety. Rather than switching to MT, it should renew with the City for a couple of years and follow up on Mayor Rick Gray’s suggestion that the City and all suburban communities join together in a regional police force.
