Etna, Reserve should form regional police department, study finds

A state study recommends that Etna and Reserve form a regional police department, while also finding that doing so will cost each municipality more for police services.

The Governor’s Center for Local Government Services at the state Department of Community and Economic Development prepared the report at the request of the borough and township, which announced in April that they were exploring the possibility.

“Our analysis of the data and information obtained throughout this study strongly supports our recommendation that the two municipalities, Etna Borough and Reserve Township, should combine their operational and financial resources and create a new regional police department,” the study says. “The consolidation of the police services for these two, along with any future additional police contracts or mergers, will result in … significant improvements in the delivery of all future police services in a more cost-effective regional basis.”

The borough and township, which each now have their own police departments, are not bound by the study’s findings.

The proposed regional police department with 12 full-time officers would start with an annual budget of $2.17 million to serve the two municipalities’ 6,705 residents in an area of 2.8 square miles.

Divided between them, Etna would see its annual cost for police services increase by 9.3%, from $1,021,918 to $1,116,500, while Reserve would see an 11.3% increase, from $946,479 to $1,053,500, the study says.

The annual per capita cost would be $323.64 per person, which the study says is significantly higher than the per capita costs for two similarly sized regional police departments in Allegheny County. It also is higher than the $211 average per capita cost for all regional police departments statewide.

According to the study, most of the increased cost is because of a 23.6% salary bump Etna gave to its officers in June and applied to the proposed regional budget for all 12 officers.

Reserve Manager Jan Kowalski and Etna Mayor Robert Tuñón declined to immediately comment or answer questions about the study’s findings, which state officials presented to them in September.

Kowalski said elected officials from each municipality still were reviewing it. A statement would be released after a joint meeting of the Reserve commissioners and Etna Council, she said.

The next steps are undetermined, Tuñón said.

If Etna and Reserve go forward, they would join 143 municipalities in Pennsylvania that now are part of 41 regional police departments serving 747,000 people, according to the study.

The study shows in a map that Etna and Reserve do not border each other, separated by Millvale and Shaler. They are 1.1 miles apart at their closest points and their farthest borders are 3.5 miles apart.

The study does not directly comment on the separation, and a spokesperson for the DCED did not respond to a question about it.

Each existing police department now has six full-time officers, with Reserve also having two part-time officers.

The proposed 12-member force would consist of a chief and lieutenant, two patrol sergeants and eight full-time patrol officers. There also would be an administrative assistant or secretary.

Patrol coverage would be increased by having at least two officers in two separate patrol zones at all times and additional coverage by having three officers on duty about 57% of all weekly shifts.

The study recommends basing the regional department out of Etna’s planned new municipal building, a former commercial building on Pine Street that Etna bought in March, because it would provide enough space. A substation could be maintained in Reserve.

The number of vehicles is recommended to remain at six, including four marked SUVs and two unmarked vehicles.

According to the study, the regional police department would operate outside the control of Etna and Reserve. It would operate under a newly formed regional police commission consisting of five to seven elected officials with members from each municipality.

If Etna and Reserve remain interested in a regional police department, the study recommends that public meetings be held to explain the proposal to all residents and police officers.