Leaders address questions about regional police force in 3 Beaver County boroughs
CONWAY, Pa. (KDKA) — Leaders from the boroughs of Conway, Freedom and Baden came together Thursday to discuss the next steps in forming a regional police force.
It comes after the boroughs previously voted to dissolve their departments and merge.
When it comes to creating a new police force, it's not so simple. First of all, who will oversee the agency?
Leaders from the three boroughs answered that question at the start of the meeting at the Conway Municipal Building when Conway Council Vice President Scott Levenson was elected chairman of the Beaver Valley Regional Police Department Commission.
"It's a good opportunity to help pave the way, pave the direction that the new department will go," Levenson said.
Most municipal police departments are run by borough councils or township supervisors. With a region here, it's a seven-person commission, made up of two elected representatives from each municipality, and the final member rotated between all of them every year.
Beaver County District Attorney David Lozier is supporting them in the process. As the first regionalized department in the county, it's also all new to him.
"They have to approve a new police contract for the new officers. They have to determine ranks and those sorts of things. They have to adopt a new pension agreement. They have to do budgets," Lozier said.
Throughout the meeting, leaders laid out a to-do list of more than 50 items to get through before officers can start patrolling the streets. Some of those include technology, equipment, new cars, and badges.
"We want to look at everything to make sure that we improve where we can and gain efficiencies where we can, and make sure that it's the best for the residents, for the towns, and for the officers especially," Levenson said.
After years and years of talking about a regional department, Levenson is proud to see it finally come together.
"We were able to work through all the different things that we needed to work through and talk through to get it to work," Levenson said.
The station will be located in Conway, and it's important to note these boroughs will not see changes to response times.
The plan is to launch between April and June, and there's already talk in Rochester Township and Rochester Borough about joining the department.