Forward Township votes to disband police department
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Forward Township's supervisors voted to disband the police force at Monday's council meeting.
Supervisor Tom DeRosa told KDKA-TV that it was a unanimous decision. It came down to a lack of police officers to fill shifts.
"Last two months, we decided we didn't have a choice," DeRosa said. "It wasn't a popular decision. It took us a long time to decide to do this. We thought it's the best thing for Forward Township."
At midnight, Elizabeth Township will provide police protection in Forward Township. Elizabeth Township police will work out of the Forward Township police station as a sub-station. There will be no interruption of service.
"We thought with Elizabeth Township, they have a bigger police force than we do and they have more police officers and they can provide people with better police protection," DeRosa said.
Forward Township has contracted with Elizabeth Township to take over policing for a year. The township has been in talks with Elizabeth Township about combining police forces for several years, and the two decided now is the best time to do it.
Right now, Forward Township has a police chief, three full-time officers and three-part time officers.
KDKA-TV's Jennifer Borrasso: When you say police were not providing the protection here, can you elaborate on that?
DeRosa: A lot of the nights, we don't have people to fill shifts. A lot of nights, we don't have a midnight guy. We have to get help from other townships if guys call off. We just don't have the personnel to do it.
Officer Frank Barrerior said he was blindsided by the news. He got a call from a fellow officer who saw the news on Facebook and confirmed with DeRosa.
"We didn't discuss it with the police officers because we didn't want bad morale with these guys," DeRosa said.