MCRPD decision stands

Article Photos

LEWISTOWN - The Lewistown Borough Council was unwavering in its decision to reduce service with Mifflin County Regional Police, despite numerous protests from community members attending Monday's monthly council meeting.

More than a dozen residents of Lewistown Borough and Regional Police officers petitioned the council to reverse its previous decision to reduce service with the police department in 2010 from 38.5 to 29 units of service.

"We are against you cutting the police department; we have a petition here that people signed and we could get a lot more if we had more time," borough resident Helen Sprout said.

Fellow borough resident Mike Hoffman said he wanted the council to explain why it made the decision to reduce police service.

"I guess we are a little late with our comments, because it sounds like the council has already made up its mind ... if you believe what you've done is right, then lets get it out there, let people hear why you've made this decision," said Hoffman, who also identified himself as the father of an Regional Police officer.

"I don't only want to pay for response to incidents - I want to pay for presence," he said.

MCRPD Cpl. Rob Haines, also a resident of the borough, attempted to shed some light on how the units of police service are spent.

"Patrol time and administration time - those numbers are so fictional. What people don't understand is that when we make an arrest it takes a long time to do the paperwork for that arrest," Haines said. "We had three domestic violence cases the other night with three people going to jail within half an hour and brought every police officer in the area into that situation to handle it."

Haines also expressed his concern about the future of the community with reduced police service in the borough.

"I moved here back in 1998 from Granville Township ... I was not a Mifflin County Regional Police officer, I was a Huntingdon County police officer. I moved to Lewistown Borough because it was a safe place to raise my kids," Haines said.

"Lewistown Borough and MCRPD - that was my goal, it was the ultimate place to be. This was the place to work." Haines continued. "I don't know what your goal or future is, but I really fear for where we are going to be in another year."

A representative of the Mifflin County Drug Task Force informed the council that 90 percent of the illegal drugs in the county are in Lewistown Borough, which means cutting service will cause the department to not have a dedicated drug officer.

After further questioning as to why the council made the decision to reduce its police service, Berrier responded, "we covered that at our last meeting and I don't think we will revisit that tonight."

Council member Larry Searer objected to Berrier's statement.

"Frank, why are you making the statement that we are not going to revisit that ... you are the one I can remember years ago arguing up and down that we needed more police service and I was in favor of reducing," Searer said. "I wanted to reduce it for years, and even after we voted on it one year you got together with your crew and you raised it again after it was already voted to put it down, and now your cutting it too much and it isn't right for the people."

Searer then brought forward a motion to reduce police service from 38.5 to 37 units, instead of the council's previous decision to drop coverage down to 29 units. Nelson Rieffannacht seconded the motion, but it ultimately was defeated. Rieffannacht and Searer voted in favor of the motion while Berrier, Russell Rager, Matt Moore and Gregg O'Donnell all voted against the motion.

Following the meeting, Rieffannacht expressed his own concerns about the issue.

"Do I have any hope? No. I have no hope of council listening to public opinion, no hope of council listening to public input and I have no hope of council changing their minds," he said.