"Across Pennsylvania, to an unprecedented extent, local police departments are being combined into larger regional ones to save money and increase efficiency. In York and Berks counties, there's been extensive public discussion of combining police forces. In Berks, one study recommended a single, county-wide police force. In York, a proposed metropolitan force could unify the policing efforts of six separate municipalities in the urban core of the county.

Here, consolidation has not received the same scrutiny. There are already three regional police departments in Lancaster County, and several departments provide contracted services for neighboring municipalities. Earlier this decade, East Hempfield, West Hempfield and Manor townships rejected the idea of regionalization.

But as public finances deteriorate, some local officials expect that municipalities will be forced to consider police regionalization on a far broader scale than anything tried so far." For the complete Lancaster Sunday News article, please click here.