Western Leb. Co. Regional Police gives Palmyra Borough year-end report

This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of our Civic Impact Reporting Project.

Palmyra Borough Council received a 2025 year-end report at the Feb. 24 meeting from the Western Lebanon County Regional Police Department, which has served Palmyra and Annville since its start in May 2024.

Chief Andrew Winters’s presentation stated the department served 12,589 people in the region and covered a 3.7-square-mile jurisdiction.

Overall numbers include the following:

• 32 DUI arrests
• 9,322 calls for service
• 170 criminal arrests
• 73 mental health calls
• 2,613 traffic stops
• 326 total vehicle accidents
• 201 non-traffic citations
• 2,551 traffic citations
• 38 Right-to-Know requests
• 3 overdose responses
• 671 parking tickets
• 363 warning cards

Of the calls for service, 5,386 were from Palmyra, 3,518 were from Annville, and 413 were from South Annville. This meant 58% of calls were to Palmyra, 38% were to Annville, and 4% were to South Annville.

Palmyra had 66% of the department’s crimes against persons, while Annville had 34%. These crimes include murder, sexual assault, and aggravated and simple assault. The percentages were the same for crimes against property — including robbery, burglary, theft, arson, motor vehicle theft, criminal mischief, fraud, and forgery.

Crimes against society, such as drugs, paraphernalia, obscene material, weapons law violations, and animal cruelty, saw 91% of crimes in Palmyra and 9% in Annville.

Winters also outlined the department’s use-of-force statistics for 2025. There were four calls where the use of force was deemed necessary for a lawful arrest, he said. All cases involved an individual being under the influence of alcohol or a controlled substance.

“Every time we use force, we review it,” Winters said. “Two sergeants look at it, I look at it, we look at the body camera, we either rule it justified or not justified.”

He said all incidents of force were determined to be justified after review and resulted in minor injuries like scrapes and bruises. In total, 0.0004% of the department’s calls led to the use of force. All use-of-force incidents took place in Palmyra.

“That shows that we’re doing a good job of de-escalating because we’re not having to use force,” Winter said.

Mayor Tom Miller said he wanted to congratulate the department on their work for the region.

“You get to see how exceptional these folks are as our police department and how they maintain not only our town, but are working as a regional group, working together with other groups to keep everything working together,” he said.

In other business, council:

• Voted to adjust interim borough manager Brenda Pera’s salary to $49.81 per hour, effective Feb. 9.
• Adjusted treasurer Christine Donough’s salary to $35 per hour, effective Feb. 9.
• Heard from Pera that the borough manager position has been publicly advertised.

Palmyra Borough Council will meet next at 325 S. Railroad St. on March 10 at 7 p.m. Meetings are streamed on the Palmyra Borough, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania YouTube page.