EVANS CITY — A borough official has made it her mission to expose what she believes to be bad management of the police department, while department officials have pushed back, touting the many improvements they’ve made since regionalizing the police force in 2014.

Evans City Council member Shelley Natali came to Monday’s police commission meeting with a four-page list of the ways she finds the Seven Fields/Evans City Regional Police Department to be deficient, ranging from training and treatment of officers to community engagement and short staffing issues.

“You’ve denied multiple requests for training, and some of those trainings you’re going to have legal ramifications,” Natali said at the meeting. “So not only is the commission going to be held liable but so is Seven Fields Borough, Evans City Borough and every commissioner and board members individually.”

The commission opted not to undertake several additional training requests from officers, including requests for Alert Lockdown Inform Counter Evacuate (ALICE) active shooter training, emergency special unit training and supervisor training, which was put on hold due to a staffing issue at the time.

The commission did approve traffic patrol/drug interdiction training for officer Jason Gilotty, and noted the department has a field training officer, a position many departments do not.

They also noted there is another opportunity for supervisor training in March.

Natali said it is vital for officers to have ALICE training to effectively respond to situations at the school and that not approving it puts the public at risk.

“You have a school in the jurisdiction that these officers are covering,” Natali said. “If there would be, heaven forbid, a mass casualty at that school, these officers are going to go in, and they’re going to be contradicting everything the staff is doing, and possibly making the situation worse.”

Commissioners disagreed, saying they reached out to the Seneca Valley School District as well as Cranberry Township police, and were told the training would not be necessary.

Natali was undeterred, saying the commission should have had officers trained anyway and that if the commission denies training they should revisit it later.

She was also concerned with the denial of supervisor training.

The training was initially approved but, by then, the class had filled.

Commissioner Jennifer Sikora explained that it was later put on hold because of short staffing at that time.

“We had three full-time officers. One was out on medical leave, one was getting ready to go out on medical leave and the third full-time officer was the one requesting to go away for five days for training,” she said. “It was just not good timing.”

Staffing issues

Natali blamed this on staffing issues, the next item on her list.

“You’ve had a staffing issue for quite some time,” Natali said, “and you’re not doing anything about it.”

She claimed to have spoken to officers who had left the department and said they left because of the commission’s decisions and its treatment of officers. She did not provide any names.

Police administrator Tom Smith and the commissioners pushed back, saying they are always looking to fill part-time positions when there are openings and reach out to police academies and others when a spot needs to be filled.

They also, earlier in the evening, passed the 2019 budget, which allocates funds for the hiring of a fifth full-time officer, something Smith hopes to have completed by January.

That position is advertised on the department’s website.

Natali said because of these issues, Evans City has had gaps in coverage with no officers in the borough and with residents facing long wait times for 911 calls.

Police Chief Joe McCombs conceded that the gaps have happened on occasion in the past, although they do their best to prevent it.

Smith said Tuesday that he and McCombs talked and decided that the chief would cover times when there would be a gap in coverage.

McCombs did push back on wait times.

In emergencies, he said, if an officer is not immediately available, the department can call neighboring communities with whom they have a mutual aid agreement to help one another out in such situations.

Natali said she’d rather the department rely on itself.

Community engagement

Natali then raised concerns that Evans City residents don’t know the police officers and that the department was not properly engaging with community members and organizations.

“You need to get the officers out there. Do some PR. It used to be that you knew every officer around,” she said. “(When it) comes to this department, the community doesn’t know them.”

She said specifically that officers should have gone to the Zelienople parade and shouldn’t have waited for an invitation that didn’t come.

“You’re not allowing them to do things such as this,” she said.

Smith said this was not true, and that the parade was missed because McCombs was off on medical leave.

He said officers frequently engage in events in the communities, including school events, Halloween and a recent food truck night in Seven Fields.

“They’re on the ground from five to eight. They’re mingling with the crowd,” he said. “Officer Jason Gilotty is a social butterfly ... Everyone in Seven Fields knows Officer Gilotty.”

He said he hopes Gilotty has the same reputation in Evans City.

Natali said neither she nor any other officers interact or engage with people in the borough while stationed there.

Lee Dyer, police commissioner and Evans City council president, disagreed, later saying that he has seen officers engage with residents at events in the borough and around town.

“We had five or six officers here for Oktoberfest,” he said.

Leadership response

Smith commended the police department and its commissioners, saying since its regionalization in 2014 it has taken great strides in officer training and technology and management upgrades.

“The technology that has been introduced in this department far exceeds whatever was had (in Evans City alone),” he said.

In the last four years, the department has installed video cameras in police cruisers and holding cells, which Smith said eliminated a clear liability issue; introduced a fleet management program; and brought the software that officers used up to date.

Next year’s budget also allocates funds for three body cameras, something many departments have yet to introduce, he said.

Smith asked Natali why she didn’t bring these issues to him or McCombs when she first heard of them.

“You can email me any time. You can call. You can text,” he said. “Why wait for the one meeting? Why not have it handled immediately?”

Smith urged her to email him or McCombs so they can respond to any issues as quickly as possible. Natali declined, saying she’d rather do things in person.

Dyer said Wednesday that he has not heard complaints from other borough council members about the department or its commission and that his impression of Smith and the regionalization effort has been generally positive.

“Mr. Smith usually keeps us well informed as to what’s going on,” he said, adding that McCombs is always available to answer questions or provide clarification.

“You always want more for less money,” he said. “In our world, you don’t always get it that way.”

On Tuesday, Natali said she was glad she brought up her issues to the department.

“I felt some progress was made,” she said.