Allegheny County set to provide police to Wilmerding next year

The Allegheny County Police Department was given a new beat Tuesday.

County council members approved, by a vote of 12-3, county police officers taking over duties in Wilmerding, a Mon Valley borough of about 2,200.

Several council members said this was the first time they could remember the county police providing regular patrols to a municipality. The department historically patrolled the parks and airports and investigated homicides in every municipality except Pittsburgh.

“It's a chance to reinvent the county police in a way to impact the murders and the drugs,” said Councilman Jim Ellenbogen, a Banksville Democrat who chairs council's Public Safety Committee. “This is the beginning of using the county police force in the best way.”

County Manager William McKain said he hopes to have officers from the county department on patrol in Wilmerding by January.

The department's impact squad, officers assigned to investigate drug crimes in the county, also will be headquartered in Wilmerding at a county housing complex that will serve as the police station.

County Executive Rich Fitzgerald introduced the proposal to council and will sign it when it comes to his desk. Wilmerding officials already approved the measure.

North Versailles has provided police to Wilmerding since 1999 and will through the end of the year. Wilmerding paid North Versailles about $235,000 in 2015 for police and will pay the township about $243,000 this year. The two communities could not agree on a contract extension and neighboring municipalities did not want to take on Wilmerding.

Wilmerding will pay the county $250,000 the first year, with 3 percent increases each following year, plus 25 percent of all fines and fees the borough receives as a result of the county's policing. County officials have said those payments could fall $70,000 to $80,000 short of covering the full cost to police Wilmerding. McKain said the county's budget can handle the additional cost.

Republican council members Tom Baker of Ross, Cindy Kirk of McCandless and Sue Means of Bethel Park voted against the measure. All said the estimated gap between what Wilmerding will pay and what it will cost to police the borough concern them. Kirk said she heard from her constituents in the North Hills that they did not want to help pay for police in Wilmerding.

“I don't know if it's fair to have the rest of the citizens in the county pay for this,” Means said.

County police Superintendent Coleman McDonough, who took over the department last month, has said the department will provide one officer 24 hours a day, seven days a week in Wilmerding with other resources supplementing the officer.

The county police department has an annual budget of about $29.6 million and more than 260 employees.

Aaron Aupperlee is a staff writer for the Tribune-Review. Reach him at 412-320-7986 or aaupperlee@tribweb.com.