As noted in last week’s musing, this year’s draft budget provides for the opportunity to hire four additional police officers to join our Lansdale Police Department. If accepted by council, this would represent one of the most important, and largest, investments in our police department in several years.
Over the last five years Chief Trail, borough council, and I have been working diligently to grow our Lansdale Police Department in a responsible way that ensures we are meeting the modern needs of residents and the community at large. Over the last decade, Lansdale’s population has grown by over 14% to nearly 19,000 people (or around 6,800 people per square mile). However, in comparison, the Lansdale Police Department has grown by less than 1%.
The population growth of our community has resulted in notable increases in in traffic complaints around speeding and reckless driving. Residents have come to public safety meetings repeatedly to discuss their concerns around traffic enforcement and management. The fact is that roads designed in the 1960s to handle 12,000 people (and around 12,000 vehicles since in 1960 80% of households had a single car) are now being relied upon to handle at least 58% more traffic (this is likely the low because the average home has 2.1 cars nationally). To maximize the flow of our roadways, we must invest in public safety to help manage this critical infrastructure.
If approved, the four additional officers would allow for a dedicated traffic education and enforcement team that would be solely focused on safety management of our roadways while allowing other officers to continue to work on the many other critical activities that our police participate in including investigations, community engagement, and non-traffic patrol.
Further, our current staffing level falls below the standards set by every single professional organization associated with policing. Earlier this year, Chief Trail went through the process of determining an appropriate staffing level for a community our size by using three different statistical models provided by three different professional associations. All three approach police staffing slightly differently, and we wanted to have a comprehensive understanding of the average between these three models.
The result of this process was an average suggestion of 32 sworn officers. We currently operate with 25.
Obviously, hiring four officers will not get us to our optimal number. However, it will put us closer to the level we should be operating at while also providing us the opportunity to improve traffic management across the borough. Statistics are great at helping us set a standard, but the real impact is felt in how we utilize these new officers. By expanding the department to have a team dedicated, solely, to traffic we are helping our community manage its growth and continue to allow Lansdale to operate in a smoother, less frustrating, fashion.
As we begin the process of finalizing the budget for 2023, police staffing will be one of my areas of focus. According to the current draft budget, we can afford to add four new officers without a tax increase or detracting funds from other critical infrastructure improvements. It comes down to prioritizing this growth and actualizing it to help our community continue moving 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.)
See also:
Mayoral Musings: Initial 2023 Draft Budget for Lansdale Carries No Tax Increase
Mayoral Musings: Residents to Receive Public Safety Survey in Coming Weeks
Mayoral Musings: A Busy Saturday on Deck for Lansdale
Mayoral Musings: New Businesses Coming to Lansdale
Mayoral Musings: Fall Fun and A New Lansdale Beer Garden
