Connoquenessing Borough Council should have ascertained details about state police coverage in the borough before discontinuing its former police service, rather than a month after ending it. The usual practice is to do one's homework before making a decision, not after it has been made and implemented.

But belated homework was on the borough council's agenda Tuesday as the council spoke with Lt. Scott Neil, a state police staff services section commander, about how the state police are handling coverage of Connoquenessing, now that the borough has canceled its police contract with the Evans City Police Department.

Evans City police had patrolled Connoquenessing for the past seven years, but that service was halted, effective Jan. 1, as a cost-cutting measure. On Tuesday, the council inquired how the change would affect response times and sought clarification about whether the state police would be enforcing local ordinances.

Neil said the state police would handle driving violations but not enforcement of local ordinances, such as parking.

The state police don't have the manpower to handle municipal-ordinance enforcement in the many communities that they routinely patrol. But even if they did, they shouldn't be performing minor duties that muncipalities with departments of their own are handling at their own expense.

Except when emergencies arise, state troopers should be patrolling state highways with the goal of keeping them safer, not giving freebie service to municipalities that don't want to incur the expense of their own police service.

Neil said non-emergency response times would vary, depending on the location of troopers when a call is received and what troopers are working on at the time. As for emergency calls, Connoquenessing will have the same priority as other municipalities.

Perhaps residents are not noticing much of a change, since the changeover took place only a month ago and nothing serious has happened in the borough. However, the council should monitor the police situation closely to determine whether less police presence, and having no municipal police to enforce local ordinances, is proving to be counterproductive to the community's sense of order.