Politics & Government

Borough Council Discusses Closing Malvern Police Department

An April 17 public hearing has been set for residents to discuss the possibility of contracting police services out to another municipality.

The Malvern Police Department could be disbanded and replaced by contractual services of a police department from a nearby municipality. The floated the idea at its work session Tuesday night and scheduled a on April 17 to gather residents' input.

"Council has considered and wants to consider openly, publicly, the possibility of providing for our police services through an alternative means than our own police department," council president Woody Van Sciver said.

The borough's contract with its police officers expired in December, and negotiations have been ongoing to construct a new one.

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"We're questioning whether, as a small-town police force with five full-time officers, we can really provide the complement of police services that we really need," he said, referring to specialized training and equipment. "That's one of the primary motivations in making this investigation."

Council member Dick Sponenbergh noted that the borough's law enforcement needs will grow with its population.

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"We anticipate, with the East King Street Project and potentially more than 190 additional residents, that our needs will become more complex rather than simpler," Sponenbergh said.

A man in the audience asked if the borough had solicited bids from neighboring municipalities, and was told it had not.

Borough resident Penny Alderson voiced support for the idea during the meeting, saying her childhood neighborhood had hired private policemen with much success. After the meeting, however, she and another resident said they thought council was proposing supplementing the current police department, not replacing it.

The borough will send a letter to every resident advising them of the matter and upcoming hearing.

The police department accounts for nearly a third of the borough's roughly $2.7 million annual budget, Van Sciver said, but outsourcing wouldn't necessarily yield a cost savings.

"It could be a cost-neutral event. We're not sure. We're going to investigate it," Van Sciver said. "We just think that is something that we need to look into and see where we go. Certainly, it's going to impact everyone's life."


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