Suspending local law enforcement in Girardville

GIRARDVILLE, SCHUYLKILL COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — Last month, people living in a Schuylkill County borough put pen to paper and voted on the fate of their police force.

On Wednesday, the results of that vote were made public, will they keep their police department or dissolve it?

Just a month ago, Girardville residents weighed the pros and cons of keeping their local police station and submitted their formal votes.

After tallying the community’s decision, the choice was made at a borough meeting Wednesday evening to suspend the police until the end of the year.

The small borough of Girardville shrunk even more Wednesday evening after an important vote made by the community.

“Do we raise taxes to try and increase funding for our police department? Or do we make the hard decision to say enough’s enough and go with a third party for coverage?” said Girardville Mayor Michael Zangari.

All answers to that question led toward one major choice whether or not to dissolve Girardville’s part-time, local police department.

89% of residents voted no to increase taxes to keep local law enforcement, leading to a vote to suspend them until the end of 2024.

“We’ve had a lot of turnover over the last few years of officers and they simply just were not happy with the product that they were getting in which they were paying for as a taxpayer of Girardville borough,” Mayor Zangari stated.

Janet Perez was part of the 11% that voted to keep the Girardville Police out a fear of rising crime. She is scared backup enforcement won’t get there in time.

“There’s always a time gap and if someone calls 911, you’re pretty much left on your own to resolve the situation,” Perez explained.

But, that is not a fear of Mayor Zangari.

He says state police from the Frackville Barracks have been providing successful coverage for the borough over the last few months and he looks forward to their continued protection.

“What I do look forward to though is a consistent policing. We’re gonna have troopers that go by the same guidelines every time no matter who shows up at your door to handle your incident the same way they would your neighbors,” Mayor Zangari added.

At the end of 2024, Mayor Zangari says the borough will look at costs and efficiency to decide if PSP or neighboring police departments will serve Girardville in the years to come.

The big decision made Wednesday evening is not only happening in the borough of Girardville, cities and towns all over northeastern Pennsylvania are facing the decision of whether or not to dissolve their local police stations.

28/22 News will look further into this issue on Thursday evening, so make sure to tune in and see how many are being affected by these decisions.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to PAhomepage.com.