Legislation proposed by one State Representative would charge a fee to municipalities that rely on State Police for coverage.
If this bill were to ever pass in Harrisburg, it would affect many municipalities in Schuylkill County.
State Rep. Justin Fleming (D-105, Dauphin County) says in a co-sponsorship memo that local municipalities without a police force or only a part-time police department should pay an annual fee to have State Police coverage.
Municipalities with their own police force or that join regional forces would be exempt from paying the fee, he writes.
“The proposed fees remain significantly below the actual cost of providing PSP services,” Fleming says.
In his co-sponsorship memo, Fleming cites a 2017 study by State Police that estimates the cost to provide coverage in municipalities without their own force costs $234 per resident. He said that equates to $641 million in “free services.”
Further, he said that in 2022-23, the state budgeted $500 million to State police from the Motor License Fund to provide coverage to these communities. He said 75% of Pennsylvanians that fund their local police departments through municipal taxes also subsidize communities that rely on State Police for coverage.
“Although the Pennsylvania Constitution permits the use of Motor License Fund dollars for PSP highway and road patrols, it prohibits their use for non-traffic-related policing duties such as burglary investigations, shoplifting, and other criminal cases. Yet PSP routinely performs these services in municipalities without their own police,” Fleming writes.
This legislation has not yet been introduced in the House of Representatives in Harrisburg.
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