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Call it, “Option C.” West Easton creating our own Police Department.

Option “A” was a contract with Wilson Borough. As previously reported, the full-time police contract would have been a hardship on taxpayers and untenable in a relatively short term due to the proposed increases each year. Starting price: $250,000

Option “B” was to approach and negotiate a contract with The City of Easton. Problem is, Mr. Panto chose to end the contract we had with his city a few years ago and it appeared they were unwilling to renew at an affordable price, if at all. He made it pretty clear that he had no interest in providing police coverage to West Easton. Recently, in a newspaper article, he referenced what it might cost West Easton for his city to provide part-time coverage (it was not an offer, simply a reference in the story being reported). Starting Price: $198,000

In both “A” and “B” options, there is rarely a true negotiation when one party approaches another looking to get a fair price on something they need and the other puts a premium on.

When the impending cancellation of the contract for police coverage from the City of Easton was made public, an announcement was made by the former Council that our own police department would be created by January, 2014.

Two Jeeps were purchased, intended as police cars, toward that purpose. The effort didn’t get beyond the Jeeps. A white one is currently being used by the Road Department and the other resides inside the pavilion after having been freshly painted black and white.

It was later reported by that Council, the price of having our own police department would cost $1 Million, just to get it up and running. It was also reported that a part-time police department wasn’t possible because Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) would not cover West Easton during the “down time,” if any type of police department was formed.

The idea of a West Easton Police Department died with that new information. It turns out not to be accurate.

Option “C,” of having our own police department, was given new life when Council President Dan DePaul brought in an article to a Safety Committee meeting. A local newspaper mentioned Stockertown with a part-time police department. In that article it also mentioned that Stockertown had the PSP providing coverage.

The first question I asked was, “How could they have State Police coverage if that arrangement, as we had all been told, was not possible because they have their own part-time police department?” It was a question we all had and it was the reason Mr. DePaul showed us the clipping.

Following that committee meeting, Dan DePaul made a phone call to the Stockertown Chief of Police. A meeting was set up with Chief John Soloe and the Safety Committee for the purpose of fact-finding. If the Safety Committee was to present an “Option C” to the full Council, we would need a lot more information and be fairly certain that such an endeavor was possible. More importantly, it had to be affordable for West Easton residents.

We chose not to broadcast our fact finding tour. We didn’t want to raise hopes of residents, if it turned out that it was only a pipe dream that had no chance of being implemented.

We did meet with Chief Soloe in Stockertown and between Dan DePaul, Henry Nodoline, and myself, we kept the Chief busy for over an hour, as he answered every question, giving us full disclosure on how Stockertown runs its’ part-time Police department.

He explained how you register a police department with the State, the 911 system changeover from your own department to the PSP when your own community goes on and off duty, equipment needs, weapons needs, uniforms, scheduling part-time officers, hiring practices, officer pay scales, officer qualifications needed, vehicle requirements, suspect transfers, lockup requirements, office space needs, and much, much more.

Chief Soloe told us he would like to see every small community with its own police department and would be willing to assist us with any information we needed in the future.

What surprised me most was his police department budget is only $132,000. I thought it would be much more expensive.

There is still some additional groundwork to be performed and questions may arise with hurdles likely to be faced. The West Easton Council has already placed $150,000 into the preliminary budget for “police protection” and ultimately will have to formally vote on whether or not to move ahead on creating a West Easton Police Department.

Such an endeavor, if approved, won’t result in immediate protection. It won’t be the same as signing a contract and patrols appear the day a contract goes into affect. It would take patience from all of us.

There would be a building process, including hiring a Chief of Police, determining the number of part-time officers required, obtaining needed equipment, and preparation of the space a police department would occupy. They are only a few of the preliminary items that would have to be addressed.

Call me optimistic, but I think it can be accomplished, barring some yet undiscovered problem that can’t be overcome. The Council is currently looking into some areas of forming a police department where questions still remain, but at this point I’m still hopeful it will move forward.