Editorial: Police take bite out of hoagie market

Hoagies are not a substitute for money.

A big long bun stuffed with ham and cheese and veggies is not supposed to take the place of cold hard cash. But for school groups and service organizations and nonprofits in need, a hoagie can be the preferred route to building up a bank account.

That’s nothing new. What is a change is having a police department do it.

Now let’s be fair. The Leechburg police aren’t peddling subs, pizzas and brownies from Sprankle’s Neighborhood Market to pay for salaries and squad cars. But they are raising money to add surveillance cameras to some intersections.

Fundraising for the equipment has been going on since June, but only $4,000 has been acquired from businesses and residents. An additional $3,000 was needed to finish out the project, so on Dec. 10, the Sprankle’s sale started to try to take the funding the rest of the way.

On the one hand, it’s great to see a little outside-the-box thinking when it comes to finding a way to provide something that will benefit the community. Let’s hope we don’t get to the point where we need bake sales to build a bridge or crowdfunding to pave a road, but any effort to provide more services without dipping into the tax coffers is worth exploring.

But on the other hand, it’s a little sad that it is taking so long.

Hempfield Area High School’s marching band wasn’t trying to raise $7,000 with sandwiches. They needed $640,000 to take the band, plus instruments, equipment and chaperones, to London to perform in the British city’s 2020 New Year’s Day parade.

The 152 students sold 150,000 hoagies. It took a lot of work and 18 months, but the effort was a success.

It is fantastic that an arts program was able to do that and kids and parents banded together to make it happen.

But it would be nice if the same kind of support was shown for a police program aimed at public safety.