With report, Southern Regional Police looks forward

A recent meeting focused on a 30-page report that listed findings and recommendations on managing Southern Regional Police

(Undated) — A police department cannot be run by the numbers, says Southern Regional Police Chief James Boddington.

But the numbers — in the form of various formulas and budgetary concerns — couldn’t help but be the center of discussion Tuesday night at one of the police department’s commission meetings.

The night was focused around a 30-page report put together by Ron Smeal, a police management consultant known for creating and, at one time, leading Northern York County Regional Police.

“I eat, sleep and live regionalization,” Smeal told commissioners as he went over in detail his findings after privately talking with members of the police department, the commissioners themselves and others over the last six weeks.

Many Southern Regional Police officers attended Tuesday’s meeting, standing together in the back of the meeting room as the future of their police department was discussed. About 30 residents sat in, as well.

A handful of residents posed questions and comments to the commission, some drawing on concerns stated previously and pointed out in Smeal’s report that Boddington should be leading the department instead of commission members who represent the municipalities who belong to the department.

“It’s his shop,” Smeal said to commissioners. “He’s the man.”

Smeal presented his findings, and took several questions from commissioners. He was confident after the meeting that Southern Regional would stay together.

The study could have taken six to seven months, Boddington said after the meeting. Instead, Smeal completed it in the 6-week time frame. That’s because of a ticking clock: two municipalities who belong to Southern Regional — New Freedom and Glen Rock — have submitted letters of intent to withdraw from the police department by the end of 2017.

By July 1, that decision has to be finalized, said New Freedom Mayor Jeff Halapin.

So that’s why Smeal’s study comes at such an important time.

Commissioners have not been able to reach a consensus regarding disagreements about a formula that determines who pays what based on population, road miles, police hours and an average of the first three categories called “fair share.” New Freedom has called the formula unfair because its borough has to pay more than Shrewsbury, but gets less patrol hours each year. Glen Rock and Stewartstown also belong to the police department.

The population and road miles formula, Smeal advised, comes with difficulties. Boddington, Smeal wrote in his report, has difficulty assigning officers to patrol because municipalities want to keep their fair share percentages down.

“As a result, commissioners and municipalities are concerned about seeing patrols in their area,” Smeal wrote in the report.

The commissioners, including representatives from each of the four municipalities, have worked to come to a unanimous decision. They formed a special formula committee last year. But that effort didn’t pan out.

Smeal’s recommendation was to go to a formula that’s essentially “pay for what you use.”

Known as PPUs, or police protection units, a municipality would buy units based on how much coverage it needs. For example, one unit would equal 10 hours of service and time is monitored in 15-minute increments on a daily, weekly and annual basis.

“Whatever you buy, you get that much in time,” Smeal said.

Buck Buchanan, Shrewsbury Borough Council president and secretary/treasurer of the police commission, has not wanted to go with the PPU model, saying after Tuesday’s meeting that it would be a step backwards.

He stands by a formula where officers are sent wherever they are needed based on crime, as well as on population and road miles.

But during the meeting, like other commissioners including New Freedom Mayor Jeff Halapin and Shrewsbury Mayor Pete Schnabel, he was supportive of keeping the police department together.

He said during the meeting that if switching to the PPU formula is what it takes to keep Southern Regional Police together, the choice would be seriously considered.

The meeting concluded with a decision to keep moving forward and looking at Smeal’s recommendations.

At one point, discrepancies in the report were raised, mainly having to do with inaccuracies in the amount of calls officers respond to in each municipality.

Boddington explained Smeal received incorrect information due to a previous clerical mistake in their monthly reports. So commissioners decided to retain Smeal for another day, or possibly two, to reconfigure his report.

It’s an important number to get correct because amounts of calls directly affect how much a municipality would pay for PPUs.

A possible decision on switching police formulas and further discussion about Smeal’s report will take place at next week’s Southern Police Commission meeting. Commissioners will meet Wednesday, March 1, at 7 p.m. at 49 E. High St. in New Freedom.