Consolidation of Springdale, Cheswick police forces working well one year later - TribLIVE

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It’s been just over a year since Springdale Township commissioners approved merging the township’s police department with Cheswick’s to create the Allegheny Valley Regional Police Department.

The merger appears to be going smoothly with consolidation bringing more efficient policing. Both municipalities contribute equally to the department’s roughly $450,000 annual budget, and both are saving money.

Springdale Township is seeing a savings of about $136,000, and Cheswick Borough is saving about $88,000 according to figures provided by Cheswick Council member Michael Girardi, who sits on the police force’s newly formed civilian board.

“That’s a significant amount of money,” Girardi said. “The initial term of the charter agreement runs to the end of 2025, so based on that, we’re anticipating a total savings for the municipalities of over one-and-a-quarter million dollars.”

Girardi said the contributions from the municipalities will be $3,000 less than they were this year, even though the department is bringing on an additional full-time officer.

“Now that we have about a year of actual (expenses) under our belts, we’re able to get a little better feel so that we can reduce expenses in other areas, as well,” Girardi said.

A big portion of the savings comes from being better able to allocate manpower to specific times when there’s a greater need.

“For example, we have more people on Friday/Saturday nights than we do on Tuesday at 3 a.m. because we’re anticipating less,” Girardi said.

Allegheny Valley has just two full-time (soon to be three) and seven part-time officers to spread across 24-7 shifts, but Girardi said the board is looking to add another full-time officer.

For his part, Allegheny Valley Regional Police Chief Mike Naviglia said he feels the merger has worked well and there’s been no increase in crime.

“I think we have more continuity with the police officers working as one instead of in two separate departments. The exchange of information is better. We know exactly what’s going on in both towns.”

Naviglia also said it’s easier to get updated equipment than it was before the merger. Officers are now equipped with body cameras, updated computer systems in their vehicles and better vehicles in general.

“We’re not driving vehicles with over 100,000 miles on them anymore,” Naviglia said.

Also, last April, a foundation honoring New Kensington police officer Brian Shaw, who was shot and killed in 2017, awarded a $15,000 grant to the department for a new police dog

However, Girardi said the benefits of the merger are not just financial.

“We’re all seeing an improvement in the quality of the services we’re able to provide. Previously both municipalities heavily relied upon part-time officers and being so small, we would just hire new part-time officers who would receive a little bit of training, and then they would be out on their own,” Girardi said.

“The way that we’re structured now, we’re able to have multiple officers working at the same time, and we’re able to have our more-seasoned veteran full-time officers working alongside the part-time officers, providing them more hands on experience and training.”

The new arrangement has reduced turnover among officers becaues of better pay and benefits, Girardi said. All of the officers the department had after the merger began in July, 2019 are still with the department.

“Having stuck around for a year, they have a better understanding of communities and they know the residents better.”

Girardi said, in the future, the regional department is also looking at providing de-escalation training for officers.

Naviglia said he thinks merged police departments are a good idea and wishes more communities would consider them.

“I wish more of the smaller communities would do this. I believe in the mergers. You can do so much more and be so much better. We need each other.”

Paul Guggenheimer is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paul at 724-226-7706 or pguggenheimer@triblive.com.

Categories: Local | Valley News Dispatch

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Consolidation of Springdale, Cheswick police forces working well one year later - TribLIVE

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