This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of our Civic Impact Reporting Project.
Representatives from North Lebanon and North Cornwall townships met Tuesday evening to take the first concrete steps toward merging their police forces into the Lebanon County Regional Police Department, which is scheduled to begin operations in January 2025.
The municipalities signed an Intermunicipal Charter Agreement in July, committing to the creation of the county’s second regional police force. The new department is expected to have 24 officers, including 14 patrolmen.
North Lebanon has also provided police services to West Lebanon Township for several years, and the new regional force will continue to do so.
On Tuesday evening, appointees from both townships, acting as the Lebanon County Regional Police Commission (“RPC”), met at the North Lebanon Township building and firmed up the new department’s organizational structure.
In a series of unanimous votes, the commission elected North Cornwall supervisor Michael Wahmann as RPC chair, North Lebanon supervisor Gary Heisey as vice-chair, and North Cornwall supervisor Ronald Sell as secretary/treasurer.
Current North Lebanon police chief Timothy Knight was chosen as the combined department’s first chief of police.
Knight presented a proposed department organizational chart, which was approved unanimously.
Lancaster-based attorney Josele Cleary was appointed as the RPC’s solicitor, and Harrisburg-based attorney Michael McAuliffe Miller was appointed as the RPC’s labor attorney.
The commission agreed to request proposals for departmental banking, website, payroll, and scheduling services, as well as bonding the treasurer and other employees. Knight recommended using the popular Crimewatch website platform, and said he has scheduled a meeting with a payroll and scheduling software vendor and would be contacting others.
Knight also reported on the progress of obtaining uniform patches, badges, and vehicle striping for the merged force. Wahmann noted that the RPC will apply for two grants from the state Department of Community and Economic Development and the state Commission on Crime and Delinquency to cover some startup expenses.
More work, more meetings scheduled
The RPC approved additional meetings on Sept. 10 and 25, Oct. 8 and 22, Nov. 13 and 26, and Dec. 10 and 19.
“That’s basically every other week for the remainder of this year,” Wahmann said. “There’s a great deal of work that needs to be done by this commission and Chief Knight in getting this regional police department up and running.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article misidentified Ron Snell as a North Lebanon Township supervisor. He is in fact a North Cornwall Township supervisor. We sincerely regret the error.
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