Cressona Mayor Sandi Renninger has approached Schuylkill Haven officials about a potential inter-municipal police force.
It’s been years since Cressona had its own cops and Renninger believes it’s time for the borough to revisit the idea. The problem is, as a few council members put it, there’s not enough money in the budget to have an exclusively Cressona department.
On Wednesday, Renninger got herself of the Schuylkill Haven Borough Council agenda and presented each member with a report or proposal on having that borough’s police force also cover Cressona.
“We’re a neighboring town. I would assume what happens on our town affects their town and vice versa,” Renninger tells The Canary.
Right now, Cressona is covered by Pennsylvania State Police but Renninger realizes “the State Police are stretched thin.” She thinks it’d be better for Cressona residents to have a local police force covering the borough.
“(The State Police) do a very good job,” she says. “They do the best they can with what they’ve got.”
Renninger doesn’t believe there’s some “gigantic problem” that prompted her to reach out to Schuylkill Haven this week.
“There’s no outstanding problem that I know of at the moment,” Renninger says.
Cressona Councilman Bill Barr, who attended Haven’s meeting this week with Renninger and Councilwoman Michelle Blankenhorn, echoed the need for a local police force in the borough.
“Every town needs protection,” Barr says.
Renninger says she’s fielded feedback from Cressona residents who say the borough needs local police coverage. She’s been working on a potential inter-municipal agreement since she took office three years ago and got a lot of help when Blankenhorn came on board with Borough Council earlier this year.
“I’m here for the residents and I listen to what they say. And when they come to me with issues, I try to address it and that was the first thing on the bill when I got into office,” Renninger says. “That’s always the first thing.”
Schuylkill Haven Mayor Mike Devlin, after Wednesday’s meeting, tells The Canary that the potential for a Cressona-Haven police force is definitely something borough officials will discuss.
“This is something that they looked at several years ago,” Devlin says.
The main issue for Schuylkill Haven would be making sure, by covering Cressona, it’s not leaving its own residents behind.
“If we’re in a situation where there’s an arrest, we want to still maintain coverage for our citizens,” Devlin adds.
Haven’s Mayor adds that there’s more than just coverage that needs to be considered, such as training, use of police vehicles, pensions, and more.
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Walter M.
June 7, 2024 at 1:55 pm
Would be great to see Cressona and Schuylkill Haven working together. they have already started combining the fire departments. Looks like finally the small towns are working for a great common goal for everyone. Can’t wait for Mr. Devlin be the 1st one to put politics aside and work for a great joint force between our towns. He is a great mayor, and i’m sure he does not want to see this fail.
Tom
June 7, 2024 at 8:13 pm
Walter M makes some great points. These are 2 municipalities adjoining each other. Let’s see if they can work together to provide funds for a common goal.