Colonial Regional Seeks Police Officers

Colonial Regional Police Department will conduct a test for the position of police officer on Saturday October 12, 2019. Applications are available from the Colonial Regional Police Department, 248 Brodhead Road, Bethlehem, PA, 18017, by calling 610 861-4820 or online at www.colonialregionalpd.org.

Completed applications must be returned no later than 4:00 p.m. September 27, 2019. Minimum Requirements: 21 years of age on test date, High School Graduate /GED, U.S. Citizen, Valid Driver's License, Act 120 certified by 12/30/2019. Starting Salary: $57,934. Anticipated openings in 2020. EOE.

Colonial Regional Police Academy Accepting Applications

I've been asked to remind Hanover and Lower Nazareth residents that Colonial Regional Police Department is still accepting applications for its citizen police academy between September 5 and November 14. Applications due 8/24/18. Apply here.

Bath to Leave Colonial Regional Police Six Months Sooner Than Expected

At their April 10 meeting, Hanover Township Supervisors unanimously approved an agreement that will allow Bath Borough to leave the Colonial Regional Police Department six months sooner than was expected. Under its contract, Bath was required to continue using the services of Colonial Regional until January 1, 2019. But at Bath's request, its separation from the regional police department will be accelerated to July 1, 2018. Bath will still be required to pay Colonial Regional $242,714.88. It will also pay $92.26 per hour for contract services.

Colonial Regional will continue to provide police coverage for Hanover and Lower Nazareth Townships. The cost for police coverage will be based in an apportionment formula based assessed property valuation (30%), municipal population (30%) and the number of incidents (40%).

"This has been a long haul," said Chair John Diacogiannis.

In more pleasant news, outside auditor Todd Bushta has given the Township a clean bill of financial health again, a clean and unqualified opinion. "The Township is doing a fine job with the financial staff it has," said Bushta.

Highlights from the report reveal that the Township is debt free. There is also no deficit spending. It spends less than it takes in, and was sitting on over $5 million in unrestricted cash and investments at the end of last year. Manager Jay Finnigan has previously credited the 0.5 mill fire tax for enabling him to plan ahead.

The audit is now available on the Township website. In an effort to be more transparent, back-up documents to agenda items are also on the website.

As winter has ended, Public Works Director Vince Milite and his crew have started street sweeping. They plan to hit each street twice.

Supervisors will meet again on April 24, 7 pm, at the municipal building located at 3630 Jacksonville Road.

Stuffed Animals for CRPD

From Agent 69 - On Tuesday, October 10, 2017 Hanover Township Supervisor Michael Prendeville presented the Colonial Regional Police Department with 200+ stuffed animals. Mr. Prendeville personally acquired the stuffed animals from a local company after doing a ride-a-long with Sergeant Michael Enstrom.

Why would cops want stuffed animals? Officers giver them to children who are involved in motor vehicle accidents or witness domestic disputes.

Accepting the animals on behalf of the CRPD was Officer Chris Templeton and Sergeant Michael Enstrom (pictured). Supervisor Chairman John Diacogiannis applauded and acknowledged Mr. Prendeville for his kind donation.

Standing Room Only at Lower Nazareth Meeting on Police Coverage

Yesterday, I was at the first of what should be four budget hearings to review Executive John Brown's spending plan for next year. As a result, I missed the latest attempt to destroy Colonial Regional Police Department at a Lower Nazareth Supervisors' meeting at the elementary school on Newburg Road. Departing Supervisor Eric Nagle wants to replace one of this area's top law enforcement agencies with the Keystone Cops.

Though I missed out on all the fun, Agent 77 was there. He is more succinct than I.

I was at this meeting, and it was standing room only. Mr. Nagle from the very start was belligerent and disrespectful to many speakers as they all praised the CRPD. Every. Single. Person. who spoke was in favor of retaining the CRPD. Mr. Nagle clearly has no interest in listening to his constituents and is pursuing something personal. What that is however I do not know.

Lower Nazareth Meeting by BernieOHare on Scribd

I will try my best to be there. I will be covering a county budget hearing.

Bath Borough Votes Unanimously to Leave CRPD

On Wednesday night, Bath Borough Council voted unanimously to leave Colonial Regional Police Department (CRPD). They did so without knowing whether they will have any police coverage at all, claiming they have 16 months to figure it out.

This decision was reached without conducting a survey of the borough to see if residents really want to lose CRPD. They also failed to discuss whether a spendthrift borough that is nearing its debt limit should even exist.  But that's what I would expect from a borough so insensitive to the public safety of children that it stopped paying for crossing guards. This forced Northampton Area School District to bus the students

On its Facebook page, Bath Borough plastered all kinds of notices concerning its town hall. But it has failed to say a word about its vote to leave CRPD, and even ignored a resident's question about it.

I saw no media coverage of this important decision in any of the usual news outlets  As newspapers shrink, expect to see more of these death blows to public safety

Blogger's Note: I am relying n a third party for this account because I was covering Bethlehem's Zoning Hearing Board on Wednesday. 

CRPD Accepting Citizen Academy Applications.

Colonial Regional Police Department is accepting applications for its next police academy, which runs from September 6 through November 8. Classes will cover accident investigation, Crimes Code, Use of Force and more. Demonstrations and tours are conducted, including the prison and 911 Center.

You can download an application here. The application cutoff date is is August 23,2017. You can hand deliver, mail or email your application to Lee McGuigan at the CRPD, 248 Brodhead Road, Bethlehem, PA 18017. Her email address is lmcguigan@colonialregionalpd.org .

Why Colonial Regional Police Are Worth It

Bath Borough, which recently moved into a new $450,000 municipal building in need of $250,000 in improvements, is pondering whether to cut costs by eliminating Colonial Regional Police Department in favor of some cheaper alternative. This borough thought nothing of borrowing near the limit and didn't blink an eye when legal fees doubled. But Borough Manager Brad Flynn was very upset that the cost of police coverage went up five percent, from $398,000.00 in 2016 to $416,000.00 in 2017. "This increase in cost will prompt upcoming discussions with the Colonial Regional Police Commission about the Borough’s seat at the table and to what future extent," he huffed in his budget message last year.

Decades of fiscal mismanagement from leaders that once included a Mayor who pleaded guilty to stealing from her local church, are being blamed on the men (and women) in blue. Flynn prepared an "informational" packet that was distributed at a Saturday morning town hall, slamming police coverage. Officers were prevented from speaking and were told they could make their case at the next Borough Council meeting. They did so, and were politely ignored. No questions. Not even a "Thank you for your service." At least Borough Council President Mark Saginario opted against open carrying, something he did when AFSCME once appeared at a meeting.

I have requested Colonial Regional to supply me with their response to Bath's "informational" packet.

Here are the points they make.

Bath Compared to Six LV Boroughs

Each of these boroughs has its own dedicated police department, small in size, and staffed by a few full-time and part-time officers. Bath is part of a regional department that has no part time officers. Bath pays the highest salary is not accurate. When compared to similar other boroughs in the Lehigh Valley, Bath is paying a comparable cost to all other departments,but is getting an accredited police department . Bath spends 22% of its budget for police services at $413,536,the second lowest rate for the boroughs listed above.

Cost per officer

Bath pays its portion of the police budget (12%) for the entire department, which includes 25 sworn officers and 2 civilian positions. Bath’s portion of the total police department budget is around 12%.Bath falls far below the average of the compared boroughs at $153/resident. The average is $200/resident. The attempt to compare specific salaries is impossible because many municipalities rely heavily on part-time officers.

Crime Statistics

Bath officials attempted to downplay the severity if crime. That is a mistake. In 2016, there were 141 reportable offenses. These include manslaughter (1), rape (1), burglary (12), theft (44), vehicle theft (2), Forgery/Fraud (15), vandalism (20), Arson (1), Drugs – Sales/Manufacturing (2), Drugs – Possession (16),
Alcohol – DUI (16) and Alcohol – Drunkenness (5).

For the municipalities cited above, Bath has far more reportable crime than any of them. Alburtis, for example, reported only 27 offenses, about 1/20 what was reported in Bath.

Motor Carrier Enforcement

Unlike most small departments, Colonial Regional actually does have a certified motor carrier officer. The other 24 officers have cited dozens of trucks for a variety of other moving violations that are not documented as motor carrier enforcement incidents. An example is when the Mayor reached out to Colonial about speeding dump trucks on Main St. Several trucks operators were cited for speeding. There a have also been dozens of weight violation citations.

Drug Task Force

The Northampton County Drug Task Force is a county run program. It is not funded in any way by Bath. So any drug task force time accounted in Bath or anywhere else in the county is paid for by the county. Between 2012-2016, Colonial seized $55,709 and a total of 7 vehicles. Colonial believes it has been very proactive in addressing the drug issues in the borough.

Ordinance Violations

Flynn's "informational" packet slammed Colonial for failing to issue tickets for parking and other ordinance violations. Reviewing only the parking tickets issued from 2010-2015, Colonial issued 916 parking tickets in Bath.

DARE Program
26 million kids nationwide in 75% of school districts across the country have a DARE program. The last page of the Informational Packet cited outdated studies that implied the current DARE program is ineffective. The Time Magazine study and others conducted in the late 90’s were correct in finding little to no benefit of the DARE program. In the early 2000s the entire program curriculum was re-evaluated and new techniques and methods were implemented to better suit the needs of school age children and adolescents. For understanding, Officer Kovach is teaching the new version of the DARE curriculum at George Wolf and Sacred Heart Elementary Schools. A more recent and relevant study, an independent randomized control sample evaluation of the D.A.R.E. Primary program was carried out in 2015/2016 using a sample of over 50 schools and 1500 young people. The evaluation was carried out by Nottingham Trent University's Professor Andromachi Tseloni and showed that the program had a significantly statistic effect on:
• Increasing knowledge surrounding drugs, alcohol and substance abuse
• Making safe and responsible choices
• Communication and listening
• Getting help from others
Colonial offers the DARE program is offered because the Northampton Area School District requests it. George Wolf and Sacred Heart Elementary are the two schools in Colonial's jurisdiction that continue to support and request the DARE program.

Bike Patrol

Bath’s main use of Bike Patrol is during special events like the Halloween Parade. Each year at least 3 bicycle officers patrol the route along with several other officers positioned through the downtown area both on foot and in vehicles.

Shop with a Cop

-The sole purpose of this annual event is to give under privileged kids a Christmas. The meals for the kids are donated by the restaurants and all the money that each kid gets to shop with is donated by the community. For the past 11 years Colonial has hosted this event and provided a fun filled day for over 100 kids from all over the Greater Bath-Nazareth area. Eighty percent are from Bath.

Bath Takes Its Case to Colonial Regional Oversight Board

Members of Bath's police advisory board
address CRPD Comm'n 

In the wake of Saturday's Town Hall in Bath, a large crowd was expected at the monthly meeting of the Colonial Regional Police Department (CRPD) last night. To be sure there would be enough room, the venue was transferred from CRPD HQs to the popular Hanover Tp Community Center, a YMCA on steroids where even my grandson trains. Some people were lifting or doing cardio. Young ladies joked in the lobby as they prepared for volleyball practice. Bouncing basketballs provided the percussion. When about ten police officers entered the building, nobody batted an eye. Some of the kids even said Hi to these cops, who have apparently taken the time to develop good relations. But how are these same officers viewed by the Bath community? About 35 people were at last night's meeting, but only a few of them were residents who were neither part of the police advisory commission or borough Council.

Borough officials continue to insist that no decision has been made. But Borough Manager Brad Flynn's Budget Message from October makes clear that a mere five percent increase was so devastating that there would be discussions about the Bath's continued participation in CRPD.

Martin Boucher, a soft-spoken Lower Nazareth Tp Supervisor, chairs the CRPD Commission, which provides civilian oversight over this regional force. John Diacogiannis, from Hanover Tp, and Fiorella Mirabito, from Bath, are the other voting members. After getting the police business out of the way, Boucher opened up the floor to public comment.

CRPD Commission Absence at Town Hall. - It appears that members of the police advisory commission, along with Mayor Fiorella Mirabito, were bothered that the CRPD was absent from Saturday's Town Hall. Diacogiannis explained that he thought the Town Hall was for residents of Bath to register their concerns. That's certainly how it was presented on Bath's Facebook page. It was billed as a meeting for residents and business owners about the future of police service in Bath, hosted by the Bath Borough administration. In fact there was an attempt to prevent CRPD officers from speaking for that very reason. Boucher explained he was working on Saturday.

There's another reason why Commission members would be wise to stay away. Had they gone to that meeting and participated in discussions concerning Bath's future with CRPD, they would be deliberating about matters on which they will be taking official action. They would be conducting a public meeting without advertising and without anyone to take minutes for them. It would be a clear violation of the Sunshine Act.

Can This be Worked Out? - Diacogiannis explained that the Commission is there for each respective municipality, and that it is up to each participant.  But speaking for himself, he said, "You got a problem. Police are only one component of it."  He noted complaints that 23% of Bath's budget goes for police protection, but noted that 29% of Hanover's budget pays for police. "We view police as a public safety issue. It's our responsibility as a government to provide for that."

Is Lower Nazareth going to bolt, too? -  Eric Nagle has been singing that tune for several years in Lower Nazareth, and has used the situation in Bath to rekindle the issue there. But Boucher put out that fire. "A majority of our board doesn't feel that way," he said. "We're very pleased with Colonial Regional."

Is CRPD Willing to Provide Contracted Services? - This question came both from a police advisory commission member and from Mayor Fiorella Mirabito, who tried to insist again that no decision has been made until I turned on my tape recorder.  It's pretty clear that Bath wants CRPB, like Moore Tp, to provide a proposal for contracted services even though no guidance about what is sought has been provided. Basically, Bath wants CRPD to compete against itself, and Chief Roy Seiple said he's prepare a proposal if he was given some guidance.

Some Police Advisory Comm's members support CRPD - Tara Berger, a registered nurse at St.Luke's, and spelled her name out for me. She said she jumped at the opportunity to be part of the advisory commission. "Initially, I thought, why fix the roads?" she asked. "Because who's going to want to drive into a town that's not protected by you guys?" She added that "any rumors, any blogs or articles, it's so sad for me to think that we are questioning what they do for us." She expressed concern about an "ever-growing transient element."  She also said that she represents a large part of her neighborhood "because I knocked on doors and I talked to them, and they don't want to leave you."

Tara might wish to tell those neighbors that CRPD officers were prevented from responding to what was essentially a hit job in the "informational packet" prepared by Borough Manager Bradford Flynn, which is full of inaccuracies. As one of them told her last night, "I felt we were personally disrespected." Officers intend to set the record straight at the next Borough Council meeting on June 5.

Bath's Spending Problem Has Nothing To Do With Police Protection

About 70 attend a Bath Town Hall over regional police

Over the weekend, there actually was a town hall without a Congressman. Close to 70 Bath residents braved a rainy Saturday morning to meet at Social Hall, guzzling coffee and munching Dunkin' Donuts. They were there to discuss Bath's continued participation in Colonial Regional Police Department (CRPD). "This place should be packed," complained State Representative Marica Hahn. But to draw 70 people for a weekend meeting about government in a tiny borough of just 2,700 people, is pretty remarkable. At the front of the room was a 15-person police advisory commission, who have been studying CRPD's future in Bath for several months. At the rear were several police officers, along with Chief Roy Seiple, who will be directly impacted by that decision. It's a question of money. It's also a question of public safety.

CPRD, first formed in 1995, is a regional police department that covers Hanover and Lower Nazareth Tp, along with Bath. In 2001, it became the first regional police department in the state to become accredited. It includes 24 police officers. Civilian oversight is provided by a six-person commission, with two members from each of the member municipalities.

Bath has been around a bit longer than CPRD. Settled in 1728, it's a borough consisting of 0.9 square miles and a $1.8 million budget. According to the state Department of Community and Economic Development, it is at least $1 million in debt, with much of that money ($380,000) having been borrowed in just the last year. Its 2017 budget includes nearly $128,000 in debt service. It is nearing its debt limit. Some of the reasons can be gleaned from Borough Manager Bradford Flynn's 2017 Budget Message:

1. Last year, the Borough decided to purchase the "Thirst Quenchers" building to serve as a new municipal center. That alone will cost $425,000, to say nothing of at least $250,000 in renovations that will follow. 
2. Legal fees in a borough that serves just 2,700 people have doubled. Forty-one thousand dollars have been budgeted for this year. With a straight face, Borough Manager Brad Flynn justifies this so that the borough can catch up on its codifications. 
3. In the course of one year, Bath's three-person public works department resigned, and now borough officials are dealing for the first time with a union.

It's a borough with both a spending and a morale problem. Flynn's solution is to dump the one thing the borough appears to be doing well, i.e. protecting the public. He wants to eliminate the CRPD. A manager who thought nothing of borrowing near the limit and who didn't blink an eye when legal fees doubled, was very incensed that the cost of police coverage went up five percent, from $398,000.00 in 2016 to $416,000.00 in 2017. "This increase in cost will prompt upcoming discussions with the Colonial Regional Police Commission about the Borough’s seat at the table and to what future extent," he huffed, in his October 2016 budget message.

Repeated assurances were made on Saturday that "Nothing has been decided." That's window dressing. Flynn's October 2016 Budget Message tells a much different story. It is he, a person who wants to rid the borough of its police protection, who then prepared the "informational" packet that even criticizes CRPD for its "Shop with Cops" program.

Mayor Fiorella Mirabito called CRPD "top notch" and appears to be one person who wants them to stay. But she has no say in this matter, unless there's a tie.

Borough officials claim they've made no decision, either, and then refused to allow Chief Seiple and other CRPD officers to refute the findings in Flynn's so-called "informational" packet. Seiple and others complained that opinions were mislabeled as facts, and facts were misrepresented. As things would get heated, one or another member of the panel would stand up and repeatedly state how much they want to hear from the public.

The longest speeches in a meeting that was ostensibly set up to hear from the public, of course, came from members of the advisory commission. Attorney Beth Beers went on at length. "If we truly believe that we need to go to a different service because we can afford that, it's because we believe we will have the correct and appropriate police service for the Borough of Bath."

Beers insisted that they were not looking for a bargain, though the "informational" packet makes clear that is precisely what they are doing.Moore Tp can provide police protection at a cheaper price with a department that has less manpower and is not accredited. The state police will do it for nothing, if you don't mind waiting an hour for them to respond to a complaint about someone looking in your window.

Most of these harangues would follow a statement by a Bath resident expressing concern about public safety. At least half of those at this meeting appeared to support CRPD.

After Flynn suggested that Bath has no drug problem, a woman named Helen said that "where I live, drugs are a problem. We've had drug busts right across the street from us."

"Do you know how many meth labs were busted on Old Forge over the last two years?"asked one gentleman.

Another asked borough officials whether they have considered allowing themselves to be swallowed up by a government that can provide public safety. A borough that claims to be on the brink of financial disaster and wants to shed its police department has not even considered that possibility.

Chief Seiple noted that Bath pays about 12% of the CRPD budget and gets about 15% of the services. Though borough officials attempted to shut him down, he was plainly irritated at how "Shop with Cops" was misrepresented by Flynn.

"'Shop with Cops' is a program where we solicit donations for underprivileged children within our three jurisdictions to provide them with a Christmas. We give them each $500 and pick them up and go out to Wal Mart. That's a heckuva' program. Eighty per cent, if you want a number, of the kids we pick up for this program are from the Borough of Bath."

As Bath officials should know, truck traffic in the Lehigh Valley and Bath is expected to double over the next ten years. Like it or not, and it's mostly not, the big boxes cometh. Under these conditions, it would be sheer lunacy for the borough to rid itself of a police department that actually is certified to do truck safety inspections

In January, a bank robber in downtown Bath was apprehended by CRPD within a mile of his crime. How long would it take state police to respond? Or Moore Tp?

Instead of shedding CRPD, Borough Council might want to consider eliminating what appears to be its real problem, a spend-happy borough manager who hopes to solve this problem by eliminating CRPD and replacing it with ... whatever. He could them participate himself in "Shop with Cops," but does not live in Bath.

This discussion will continue this evening when the Colonial Regional Police Commission meets at 7 pm.

Bath Borough To Consider Dropping Regional Police Coverage

While Hanover Township has honored first responders by naming a park after them, Bath Borough has scheduled a town hall to discuss the furture of its police services for Saturday, May 20th - 9:00AM at the Bath Social Hall on North Walnut Street. Like Hanover and Lower Nazareth Township, Bath is a partner in the Colonial Regional Police Department. Its 2017 budget calls for $413,546.39 for police protection. Its estimated population is about 2,600.

According to the state DCED,

Pennsylvania has more police departments than any other state in the country, and many are too small to provide a full range of police services. In fact, eighty-three percent of the municipal police departments have less than ten officers.

The concept of regional policing is gaining favor among municipal leaders who are faced with stagnant or declining sources of revenue. Currently, there are 35+ regional police departments representing 125+ municipalities. Most regional police departments were created to strengthen existing police services in the areas of administration, supervision, training, investigation, patrol and specialty services.

The DCED does have a grant program for shared resources.

CRPD Hosting 11th Annual "Shop With a Cop" on December 3

Officer John Harmon's kids selflessly
shopped for others in 2013 

Colonial Regional Police Department will host its 11th annual "Shop with a Cop" program on December 3. It's an opportunity to help needy families and is funded by local citizens, the officers themselves and businesses like Giant at Food Store, WalMart, Chic-Fil-A and Red Robin. The kids start off with breakfast at Chic-Fil-A, then pile into police cruisers for a ride to WalMart. They finish with lunch at Red Robin.

If you have $5 or $500 to spare, please consider a donation. The police station is located at 248 Brodhead Rd, Bethlehem, PA 18017. Its phone number is 610-861-4820. You can also email Administrative Assistant Leanna McGuigan. Her email is lmcguigan@colonialregionalpd.org .

Colonial Regional Police Wants You

The Colonial Regional Police Department is currently accepting applications for a full-time Records Manager/Police Secretary. Information can be found at www.colonialregionalpd.org.