According to a pair of articles in the Butler Eagle’s Sunday edition, a situation is brewing that has no easy answers.

Half of Page 1 and the entirety of Page 5 on Sunday were dedicated to the obstacles faced by municipalities that have police departments.

Harrisville Mayor Gary Hughes said the very existence of the small police department in that borough hung in the balance as officials hammered out the 2023 budget.

The council considered eliminating the three-person police department to solve their budget shortfall, but ultimately funded the department in the proposed budget, which is expected to come to a vote in June.

In the Evans City-Seven Fields Regional Police Department, district court filings by officers have dropped by 65% since 2019, and one part-time and two full-time officers have resigned.

Statistics from the state suggest that 83% of municipal departments are operating with fewer than 10 officers.

Tom Smith, administrator for the Evans City-Seven Fields department, said that like most municipal departments across the U.S., recruiting and retaining officers has become a challenge.

Officer pay is another issue, according to the articles.

A few years back, officers in Harrisville were making just $15 to $16 per hour in their potentially life-threatening jobs.

Hughes said officers are finally earning $22.50 per hour.

Middlesex Township supervisors in December 2005 voted to eliminate their six-officer police force, much to the consternation of most residents, to put the $500,000 cost toward repair of the township’s deteriorating roads.

Officers filed a grievance that went before an arbitrator when the township and police officers could not reach an agreement.

That arbitrator in April 2006 ruled the police must be reinstated with back pay, and the Middlesex Township Police continue to patrol the township to this day.

Police department salaries, benefits, equipment, training and costs often represent the top expense on municipal budgets, and tough choices may need to be faced by rural municipalities with police departments in the coming years.

No matter how much a community appreciates their police department, tax increases to support them leave a bad taste in the mouths of both property owners and politicians.

State police, too, are stretched thin by responding to calls in the many municipalities in the county that do not have police protection.

We support our brave and dedicated men and women who wear the badge and put their lives on the line every time they don their uniforms and leave their families for a shift, and we appreciate their brave service throughout Butler County.

We hope municipal police departments in the county can work together with supervisors and councils to continue protecting residents for generations to come.

— PJG