Jenkintown looks to trim — or, possibly eliminate — its police force

In the second of two meetings to determine the future for the Jenkintown Borough Police Department, residents let community leaders know that they did not support a proposal that could see the borough's police force downsized, merged with another community's or outright eliminated.

"To depend on another township or borough, just in general, is ridiculous," said one resident told NBC10's Aaron Baskerville. "Because, each borough and township have their own problems."

Borough officials are looking to save money in the budget and, they said, salaries for the police chief, 10 full-time officers and one part-time officer, make up about half of Jenkintown Borough's annual budget.

So far, they have pitched ideas like downsizing the borough's police force, merging it with the Abington Police Department or even getting rid of department all together and outsourcing police services to departments in Abington or Cheltenham.

"We are going to have to figure out other solutions," said Jenkintown Borough Police Chief Tom Scott. "And, how do we figure that out? We do it through negotiations, we look at other options, we look at discussions we have had about outsourcing and we have to make the best decision for the citizens."

In a meeting earlier this month, local residents said they would pay higher taxes if it meant keeping the police force.

However, officials said they don't want to do that as the community already has the second highest tax rate in the county.

Borough officials are still amid contract negotiations with the police that could lead to the borough keeping some, or all, officers, according to borough council president Jay Conners.

"When I tell you that we all have to agree on this, that includes everyone and by that I mean, the police department as well," Conners said.

Currently, there is no timetable in place or schedule for when changes might happen for the borough's police department.