An article in Sunday’s paper leads with the news that Slippery Rock borough police recently increased its staff, bringing local coverage up to “99.9%,” which means an officer is nearly always patrolling the area. As a result, the borough likely gets good response times and officers can be more attentive to less urgent issues such as enforcing ordinances or traffic violations.

While this sounds like the lead-in to a story bearing good news, the sad fact is that Slippery Rock is an anomaly. They are the exception, not the rule.

The Eagle’s story brought to light how not all municipalities have their own police departments, and even the ones that do often need backup.

Much like firefighters and emergency responders — whose staff shortages have long been chronicled — some local police departments do not have full-time coverage because of a lack of full-time staff.

This is where state police step in to assist in communities where departments have part-time staff or not enough officers to fill in when a shift is open.

The good news is that township leaders say that response times by police are not a problem.

It’s good to know that officers are able to get to emergencies rapidly, whether it’s because departments are adequately staffed or because they’re getting an assist from state police.

However, the entirety of Butler County’s northeast section is covered solely by state police and, as a result, township leaders said officers often cannot handle complaints for incidents that aren’t emergencies — such as an oversized vehicle on the road.

In the past seven years, the number of state municipalities that need part-time coverage from state police went from 417 to 428, and those needing full-time coverage went from 1,266 to 1,293.

A total of 36 Butler County municipalities get full-time coverage from state police, while 10 get part-time coverage. Only 10 municipalities have full-time coverage from local officers.

Similar to shortages of firefighters and emergency responders, the need for additional police officers is growing.

Ryan Tarkowski, the state police’s communications director, said state lawmakers and police have long searched for a better source of funding — the state police’s operating budget of $17.2 million is funded by personal state taxes, the gas tax and motor license fund, while municipalities’ departments are funded through local taxes — that’s necessary to handle increasing coverage needs.

We hope they find it. There are some budgeting areas where inadequate funding won’t result in catastrophe, but police, firefighters and emergency personnel aren’t among them.

— NCD