Over the last several years as mayor, one of my major focuses has been expanding and investing in our police department to continue to keep pace with the growth of our community while still delivering the excellent service Lansdale Police have provided to the community for decades. We have added four officers in my time as mayor, and we need to keep that trend going.
However, hiring new officers is not something that is easily done. It is a lengthy process that involves multiple approvals and steps usually spanning the course of several months. In addition, growing the department has been met by the challenge of similarly timed retirements. It seems like every time we finally add new officers, then we see a similar number of officers retire. This is due to the historical process of “batch hiring,” which gets officers in the door all at one time. However, they also leave at similar times making the cycle continue.
As a growing community, this is a real challenge. The last time Lansdale was above 18,000 people was in 1970 and the standards for policing have changed dramatically in that time. As a PA Chief’s Association accredited agency, we are expected to maintain certain standards, and prove them, yearly. Those standards have been, and are, making us a better department. We are more organized, more productive, closer to the community, and more accountable. We must keep this trend going and critical to accomplishing that is adding more officers to the department.
As we prepare for next year, we are expecting two or three retirements within the department. Just to maintain at our current ranks we would need to start the hiring process in the next few months to have new officers ready when those retirements occur. But that is not growing the department. That is just maintaining it. However, a “batch hire” of six creates a long-term problem that cannot continue to be sustained.
Looking forward into 2023, it is my hope that we will be able to hire at least two, if not three, officers in preparation of the coming retirements. After that initial hire is completed, re-open the hiring process yearly for the next few years to hire two officers at a time, spreading out their inevitable retirement windows in the future. We cannot sustain a batch hiring process. It puts the department at risk in the long-term while also being financially draining.
The fact is that Lansdale Police Department is operating at a very high level. We have invested in more technology, more officers, and more infrastructure to better serve our community and our residents.
Additionally, we have built new internal structures that allow us to meet the needs of the community directly. We have also established a Community Services Unit to help organize and manage events while also partnering with non-profit organizations to adapt and more quickly serve the mental health needs of the community. To maintain this growth and high-level performance, we must implement a more sustainable hiring practice that allows us to keep moving the department, and our community, forward together.
(Mayoral Musings is a weekly op-ed column submitted to North Penn Now, courtesy of Lansdale Borough Mayor Garry Herbert. The views expressed are his own.)
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