“Pooling police force” reports “A Pennsylvania Economy League study earlier this year found that in Lancaster County, the average per-capita cost in municipalities with stand-alone police departments was $174.24. In municipalities covered by regional police forces, the average per-capita cost was $110.65.”
The article also quotes East Hempfield Police Chief Doug Banoli as saying “It should have been done 20 years ago…If you’re doing it only to save money, that might not be enough.”
A companion article “Consolidation eyed in York” quotes James DeBord, director of YorkCounts, as follows: “A truly regional department with access to computerized data could put up to 40 officers on duty at one time and do a better job of suppressing crime before it occurs.”
WATCHDOG: Three wags of the tail. So what are we waiting for?
“Suppressing crime before it occurs” is, of course, another way of saying cops are intruding into legal activities.
You might want to ratchet down the paranoia, pardner. I think the proper reading of that comment would mean that police could use technology to see where crime “hot spots” are, and to deploy resources accordingly. More sophisticated technology allows police to see detailed reports on criminal activity: what kind of crimes are happening, what time of day, whether weapons are used, whether criminals fled on cars or on foot, what blocks the crimes occurred, and so on. When you have kind of information at your disposal, police can make much better decisions about their response.
The police I know have enough to do dealing with illegal activity. They really aren’t interested in “intruding into legal activities.”