Allegheny County Council plans to hear a proposal this week for the County police to “provide basic police and law enforcement services” for the Borough of Wilmerding. Based on the municipality’s website it currently gets police service provided by North Versailles Township, a neighboring municipality.
The agreement would be completed under the terms of the Intergovernmental Cooperation Act, which states “Two or more local governments in this Commonwealth may jointly cooperate, or any local government may jointly cooperate with any similar entities located in any other state, in the exercise or in the performance of their respective governmental functions, powers or responsibilities”. The law defines local government as a county, city of the second class, second class A, third class, borough, incorporated town, township, school district, or any other general purpose unit of government.
Whereas it is common for municipalities to contract out to another municipality for police service or to be part of a regional (multi-municipal) force, many municipalities rely on the state for police service, which brings up multiple issues that we have written about before. That the County police is primarily responsible for ” public safety and security services at the Pittsburgh International Airport, the Allegheny County Airport, and Allegheny County parks as well as investigative services to all of the municipalities within Allegheny County” this would be a departure from that traditional position.
