Does it bother the people of Cranberry Township to constantly see speeders violating the 25 mph speed limit on the streets of their neighborhood where children play?

Do they ever wonder what our police force is doing to protect us from speeding vehicles that endanger our children, elderly citizens, our property, and our well-being in general? Can anyone imagine the harm this speeding problem causes to people’s property value?

Does anyone wonder why this insidious problem never seems to abate?

For 2012, Cranberry Township has budgeted $4.78 million for public safety, and that amount equates to 29 percent of the overall $16.52 million general fund projected expenditures.

Of that budgeted amount, Seven Fields, which was part of Cranberry Township until 1984, will provide $337,074 for its 7.5 percent share of the 2012 Cranberry police budget.

The township’s public safety department consisting of one director, 28 police officers (one currently on medical leave), three administrative and two part-time employees provides police support for 30,084 residents (Cranberry’s 28,098 and Seven Fields’ 1,986) and many commercial and industrial businesses covering a 24-square-mile area. It is my understanding that the recommended formula for public safety support is one police officer per 1,000 residents, which means a staff of 30 police officers to support Cranberry and Seven Fields.

Considering Cranberry’s staff of 28 police officers, one of whom is convalescing, it appears that Cranberry is understaffed by a minimum of two police officers.

It is my understanding that the public safety department requested additional officers in the 2012 budget to fill the aforementioned shortfall but was denied by the board of supervisors. These were the same supervisors who approved 10.5 net new personnel positions for other township departments while denying the public safety department its critically needed additional officers.

Now, if some residents still are puzzled about why Cranberry cannot provide the requisite police support to mitigate the speeding problem in the township’s residential neighborhoods, then they should wonder no more. This is a self-induced problem attributable to the inefficiencies of the supervisors and township manager.

I’m sure that the supervisors and manager will counter that they lack the financial resources to fill every staffing requirement, and I could accept that -- but only if 10.5 net new positions had not been added by way of the 2012 budget, and only if every budget line item had been scrutinized by the supervisors.

Meanwhile, sadly, $132,000 is budgeted for overtime pay for police officers who constantly work additional hours due partially to the manpower shortage.

I do not believe the township’s public safety department has sufficient resources to adequately protect its residents from incessant speeders in our neighborhoods. While I do not personally know of any person who has been harmed by these motorists, one day it surely will happen if the township does not take preemptive, corrective action.

In viewing the 2012 Cranberry budget, I found many line items from which the fat could have been trimmed to pay for additional police officers — without also raising taxes.