As some local officials are currently bringing up the subject of a regional police department, there is plenty of discussion, pro and con, circulating.  I wanted to share excerpts from the following piece, which was published in January 2001, on the original start-up of the East Greenville – Pennsburg Police Department, which later included the borough of Red Hill and became the Upper Perk Police District.  A three-way union that lasted for more than 20 years.

            Have you heard the one about the Republican and the Democrat?  It seems there was a Republican mayor in East Greenville and a Democratic mayor in Pennsburg who were trying to guide the direction of police service in the two towns.  The law says that one of the primary duties of the mayor is to be in charge of the police department.  Unless it is a regional department.  In that case, the police department is administered by

Pennsburg Mayor James Mullen (left) and Former East Greenville Mayor Roland Spaar cut the cake at the Upper Perk Police District's 15th anniversary party.

an appointed police commission.  Usually that group elects a chairman to act as the leader of that body.  In 1973, the commission was made up of the mayors and two members from each borough council.  Each of the borough mayors had held a public office for less than 10 years. 

            When it came time to pick the chairman, the Republican mayor and his borough contingent from East Greenville yielded to the Democratic mayor in light of his experience and elected him to chair the commission.  Now, let's look in on that first meeting.

On a motion, seconded and passed it was agreed to pay the department secretary $3.00 per hour.  It was also agreed that an equal amount of $2,500.00 per month ($30,000 annually) would be paid by each borough to fund the department's expenses.  They also agreed to establish a petty cash fund of $100.00.  With the stipulation that no one item purchased would cost more than $25.00.  Anything costing more than that would require a purchase order signed by the Chairman. 

            The meeting lasted 55 minutes. 

Patches of the Upper Perk Police District.

            The two mayors were, perhaps, two of the finest leaders the area has ever known.  The year was 1973, and East Greenville Mayor Roland Spaar and Pennsburg Mayor James Mullen set aside their mayoral rights granted to them by the Pennsylvania Borough Code, and along with their respective council presidents, Jacques Kline and Clarence Bechtel, became the administrating body of the East Greenville-Pennsburg Police Department. 

            The concept of a regional police department was very new at the time, and the local attempt at it was only the second in the entire Commonwealth.  Each borough had its own department prior to the merger.  But a common desire to provide better service, coupled with acknowledged weaknesses in the individual departments, brought these players together.  They brought the department strengths to the table and left their weakness by the door.  Cars, guns, uniforms, typewriters, and paperclips.  There was no bickering about the value of the inventories each town contributed.  Any police equipment owned by the individual boroughs became the property of the newly formed regional service. 

            In terms of significance to the community, some proclaimed that the formation of the two-borough force was second only to the creation of the local unified school district.  A reporter once wrote that "prior to the formation of the East-Greenville-Pennsburg police force, the Upper Perkiomen Valley was a fragmented, non-harmonious place.  For years residents of the boroughs maintained a rivalry that prevented joint projects or efficient actions." 

            A few years after East Greenville and Pennsburg joined forces for police protection, Red Hill joined the venture and the department eventually became known as the Upper Perk Police District with all three mayors and two council members from each borough serving on the police commission.

            Times change and people change.  It sometimes helps to invoke the memory of others to help guide us today.