PITTSTON TWP. — Township residents loudly voiced concerns about crime and the police response to it at Tuesday night’s supervisors meeting.
Resident Christine Menichini said the growth of the township over the last few decades has resulted in an increase in crime, although the number of officers on duty has remained the same.
She cited recent thefts that occurred in parts of the township last month. She wants supervisors to think of a way that more residents of the township — particularly the elderly — can be informed of incidents happening in their neighborhoods.
“I feel that the township has grown enormously over the past 20 years,” she said. “And it can no longer operate on the same amount of police officers that we have had 20 or 25 years ago.”
Menichini also said there is a rising amount of drug-related activity in the township.
Pittston Township Ambulance Association President Don Hudzinski said the association responded to more than 830 calls in 2016 — a 13 percent rise from 2015. Of those calls, he said three were overdose-related deaths.
Supervisor Chairman Steven Rinaldi told Menichini he is aware of the lack of police enforcement. He added the township recently placed two advertisements in a local newspaper for part-time officers, but hasn’t received any inquiries.
“Two weeks ago, we put in an ad for part-time police,” he said, adding he raised the hourly rate for officers. “We didn’t get one person who took it.”
Rinaldi contacted Luzerne County Community College about possible police recruits and is waiting to hear back. He said the township allocated enough funds in the 2017 budget to have two officers on duty at any given time, but he doesn’t have enough officers to fill that obligation.
In response to the recent thefts in the township, Rinaldi made a motion at the meeting to offer a $500 reward to anyone with information that can lead to an arrest and conviction in the thefts. The motion was passed unanimously.
Township financial administrator John Bonita said another problem the township has — and has been — facing is it cannot hire any full-time police officers because of a stalemated deal with other local municipalities to begin a regional police force.
Bonita said a deal to regionalize a police force between Pittston Township, Jenkins Township, Dupont and Hughestown has been in a gridlock for over two and-a-half years due to police contract negotiations.
He said part of the reason the negotiations have taken so long is because the committeeworking on the regionalization only meets once per month and not much is accomplished between meetings.
“It’s been very slow, and it’s frustrating,” he said.
