'It’s a shocker.' Kiski Township residents want local police back

When residents of Kiski Township and North Apollo awoke Friday morning, some were surprised to learn they had lost their 24-hour, seven-days-a-week police department.

Four police officers and the police secretary quit Thursday and early Friday, leaving only a newly appointed police chief and the school resource officer.

State police are responding to 911 calls in the two communities.

“It’s a shocker,” said Toni Stefanik of Kiski Township, one of the co-owners of Dolly’s Diner in North Apollo.

Stefanik said she was at Apollo-Ridge High School on Thursday to help feed the officers for a drill.

“They were all good guys,” she said.

Although state police are covering calls, Stefanik and some other residents want their local police department.

The diner has relied on Kiski Township police for quick response, she said.

Recently, a man was trying to get into the diner at 8 p.m. and diner workers called the police, Stefanik said.

“The guy had health issues, and he thought it was 8 a.m.,” she said. “We need local police because we have a lot going on in town.”

Nancy Miller, an Apollo resident who lives close to the North Apollo line, said, “I’m hoping state police can handle the emergency calls in a timely fashion.”

State police officers will respond to calls, and they will patrol the area, said Myles Snyder, communications director for state police in Harrisburg.

It is difficult to speculate on the timing of police coverage, he said, because a lot depends on what is happening and where.

“There could be a municipal police officer and a patrolling state trooper who could actually be closer to an incident than the local police station,” Snyder said.

Another resident, who identified himself as Chris H. of Allegheny Township said, “The state police aren’t enough. The situation needs resolved.”

The diner’s other owner, Dolly McCoy, said she was proud of Sgt. Thomas Dessell, who resigned Friday, for “standing his ground. He said what needed to be said.”

In complaints to his union and supervisors, Dessell said he was harassed and subjected to a hostile work environment because of the behavior of some supervisors. In their letters of resignation, the four officers who left blamed some of the supervisors as the reason for leaving their jobs, as did the police secretary who resigned.

Township supervisors are not commenting on Dessell’s and other complaints and the resignations because of existing complaints and pending litigation, said Tim Miller, Kiski Township solicitor.