MOUNT WOLF, Pa. — Northeastern Regional Police Department and York Area Regional Police Department signed documents Nov. 15 to merge into York County Regional Police Department.
Leaders of both departments touted the merger as a win-win to maximize resources and bring down operational costs.
Northeastern Regional Police currently covers Manchester Borough, Manchester Township and Mt. Wolf Borough. The 11-officer department has been struggling to keep up with growing needs in their coverage area.
“With the number of warehouses and industrial areas that are coming into our township, we needed more officers,” said East Manchester Township Supervisor David Naylor.
But the department also needed to control the ballooning costs of modern policing.
That’s when a larger nearby police department proposed a mutually beneficial solution.
“York Area Regional actually reached out to us to inquire about a merger,” Mt. Wolf Borough Mayor Maureen “Mo” Starner said.
Though York Area Regional’s facility in York Township will remain the base for operations, Northeastern Regional’s East Manchester Township facility will stay open. York County Regional will include all 60 police officers and six civilian staff currently working in the two separate departments.
“That was paramount in our discussions from the get-go, that no officers or office staff lost their jobs,” Starner said.
Officials expect Manchester Borough and Mt. Wolf Borough taxpayers’ rates to go down, while East Manchester Township and all municipalities covered by York Area Regional—York Township, Windsor Township, Dallastown Borough, Spring Grove Borough, Jacobus Borough and Yoe Borough—will stay about the same.
“Anything that keeps taxes down is good,” said Manchester Borough resident Bruce Almoney.
It’s the first time two regional police departments in Pennsylvania have merged into a new regional department. Officials said it could become a model for cost-sharing in other departments in the future.
“I'd like to see us grow too, not just have this municipality,” Rizzo said. “But maybe open up and give other municipalities that are having cost issues and resource issues to look at us and go, ‘Hey maybe we want to get on board with this.’”
The new department will have new badges, uniforms and logo. All will be available for the public to see at a police open house happening Dec. 11 at the York Area Regional Police Department on 33 Oak St., York. The event runs from 1 to 3 p.m. and will also include visits with the department’s new K-9, Tango.