Editorial: Police position vacancies more than a Freeport problem

The people of Freeport are supposed to have police protection.

The borough has a police department, and council has approved funding of positions to operate it. It had people in those jobs for years, patrolling the streets and answering calls in the community of 1,813 people in Armstrong County along the Allegheny River.

But as of Nov. 3, that changed.

Former police Chief Eric Belton was on the job for six years but left Oct. 29 to take a job in Plum.

He was replaced by Matthew Feldmeier. Freeport Mayor James Swartz Jr. swore him in on Nov. 1 after Feldmeier was officially hired for $53,000 a year. Feldmeier is a retired Plum police sergeant, so he knows the drill when it comes to police work in Southwestern Pennsylvania.

Feldmeier showed up on Nov. 2 for his first day of work. Later that evening, he took part in interviews for other open positions in the department. But on Nov. 3, the borough secretary showed up at the municipal building to find Feldmeier’s badge, keys and a resignation letter. Swartz says he left to “pursue other interests.”

The temptation here is to place blame on someone. How dare Feldmeier do this? Why go through all of the trouble of interviewing, accepting the position, getting started and then vanishing like a ghost before his second shift? Or maybe you want to blame the mayor. What could have happened in one day to make Feldmeier throw up his hands and walk out without a word?

Focusing on blame, however, ignores the real problem. Freeport isn’t the only community that is having trouble finding people to fill police jobs.

In June, the Associated Press reported that since 2020, departments across the country have dealt with a rise in retirements — as high as 45% over the previous year. At the same time, hiring slowed by 5%. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but the International Association of Chiefs of Police has been reporting challenges in recruiting for years.

The problems have been attributed to an inability to find qualified candidates and having too few people apply in the first place. That makes sense in Freeport. Feldmeier was the only candidate for chief, while the part-time officer has not been working in the borough for a while because of the demands of his other job as a police officer at a Pittsburgh hospital.

Then there is the paycheck. In some places, part-time police can make an hourly salary akin to being a shift leader at a convenience store. That isn’t uncommon for small departments that can struggle with the financial realities of maintaining a department.

But it’s not just about money. You can’t ignore the social tension surrounded policing, not just since George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis in 2020 and protests that spread nationwide but increasingly since the Ferguson riots in 2014.

Maybe Feldmeier or Swartz are to blame for this one position at this time in this place being vacant, but it doesn’t change a national trend that has made it harder and harder to fill vital jobs. It makes it all the more important for big ideas and intergovernmental cooperation to find ways to keep people and communities safe.