LANCASTER TWP — Joint police forces are the "wave of the future," says the chief of a growing consolidated force in Western Pennsylvania.

"I can tell you it's a lot of work, but it's worth it," said Chief Robert Amann of the Northern Regional Police Force of Allegheny County.

Amman addressed representatives from seven area police departments Thursday night at a meeting called to discuss starting a regional police force in southern Butler County.

Officials from Adams, Jackson, Lancaster and Connoquenessing townships, and the boroughs of Evans City, Connoquenessing and Zelienople attended the meeting. About 20 politicians and police officers heard Amann speak.

His force recently combined with Richland Township's force, and now covers four municipalities in northern Allegheny County.

For the third time in the past five years, municipalities in southwest Butler County are looking at a state feasibility study for a joint police force.

In December, 18 municipalities were invited for a meeting and 15 were represented. Nine municipalities were invited to Thursday's meeting, and seven were represented.

Amann described how the force is run by a police board with representatives from each municipality.

"The (township and borough) managers in each municipality have their say, but all changes have to be made by the police board," he said.

He said difficulties within his regional police force included working out officers' pension plans, who was allowed to choose their vacation days first, and keeping each municipality's identity in the force name.

Mergers mean bringing different police departments under similar pensions and wages, said Bill Gamble, a municipal police consultant and former member of the Governor's Center for Local Government Services.

When two departments merge, the higher wage and pension between the two will be paid out, Gamble said.

Amann said another major issue in adding Richland Township was that they wanted to set up a full station in Richland, instead of only using the regional police station in Pine Township.

But these issues were worked out, Amann said. The regional force went from 18 full-time officers to 30 in January. Its $2.4 million annual budget became $3.3 million.

The regional force's costs are broken down based on the number of calls police respond to in each municipality, except Bradford Woods. Encompassing only one square mile, Bradford Woods pays 4 percent of the total budget.

Amann mentioned other ways to break down costs, including by property values and miles patrolled. "We kind of had to juggle the costs, to see what would work," he said.

He also said each municipality can pull out of the force, but would pay a penalty.

Gamble noted that joint forces can span county lines, and even cover municipalities that are not adjacent.

"Obviously, it's better if (coverage) is continuous, but it's not required," he said.

Amann admitted beginning a force is expensive. "But it's not always a dollar savings, it's when people go to bed at night" they know they're protected, Amann said.

Amann listed these pros to consolidation:

Saved operating costs, and lower insurance costs.

More manpower means officers can take time for better training.

Officers stay in the force, instead of having part-time officers join up for a while, then move to a better job.

Officers can be better trained to handle situations such as school shootings without waiting for state troopers or SWAT teams.

Officers can specialize in areas such as accident reconstruction.

Currently, Cranberry Township is the only local department that has an officer who writes accident reconstruction reports. In the rest of the county, reports have to be done by two state troopers, who are bogged down with work, said Stephen Misko, a Connoquenessing Township supervisor who organized the meeting.

But the cons of merging were also clear. It is difficult to work out how much each municipality pays for police. Each municipality loses the ability to control the force independently. A decision must be made as to which police chief will be in charge.

If a local force is disbanded, state police can cover the municipality for free, or municipalities can contract police.

"There are other options," Gamble said. "This is just a study to see if this could work for you."

Officials agreed. "We have a lot of questions, but we don't know the facts. But that's what the study is for," said Don Pepe, borough manager for Zelienople.

"There is no question that this is a serious issue. … each municipality is going to have to take a good hard look at this," Pepe said.

Officials will review the idea at their respective board meetings. If any municipality wishes to do the study, officials will send a letter by mid-April, Misko said.

If there is interest, a study could be done and municipalities would meet again to review data.

These studies are not new to the area.

In March last year, officials began discussing the possibility of a regional department covering Middlesex, Penn, Clinton, Adams and Winfield townships and Saxonburg and Mars. But an official study never came.

In 2001, a regional police study among Zelienople, Harmony, Evans City, and Lancaster Township failed.

About four years ago, an effort by Evans City, Jackson Township and Lancaster Township to merge departments failed as well.

Thursday's meeting follows the disbanding of the Middlesex Township police force. That township will take the majority of the $452,000 earmarked for the seven-member police department and spend it on badly needed road repairs.