Letter to Borough Council

The Honorable Mayor Gabriel Lerman
Council President Jay Conners
Council Vice President Christian Soltysiak
Jenkintown Borough Council
700 Summit Avenue Jenkintown, PA 19046

Dear Mr. Lerman, Mr. Conners, Ms. Soltysiak, and Honorable Council members:

We are writing to you as a citizens’ committee formed in response to the Council’s apparent intention to dissolve and outsource the Jenkintown Police Department.

We have attended the community meetings dedicated to the discussion of this issue as well as Council meetings and committee workshops, and we have heard the Council’s case for dissolution. We remain firm in our belief that this is not the right way forward.

We would like to be entirely clear: the Jenkintown Police Department is an essential part of our community. It has been in the past, it is in the present, and it must continue to be in the future.

The tight-knit relationship between our community and our police force exemplifies what policing should look like in our country. Many of us know our officers by name. We feel safe knowing their familiar faces are available at a moment’s notice in our time of need. There is no possible way this relationship can be replicated, even with the best of contracts, by any external police force.

Thus far, the Council’s actions throughout this process have demonstrated a disappointing lack of transparency. We feel betrayed by the Council’s decision to secretly hire a PR consultant. As the PR consultant’s contract makes clear, the Council’s intention was to inform the community of this decision after the fact.

We call on the Council to do the following:

• Abandon their initiative to dissolve the Jenkintown Police Department
• Negotiate in good faith with the Jenkintown Police Benevolent Association
• Make a commitment to greater transparency
• Comply fully with the Pennsylvania Open Meeting Law (the Sunshine Act)
• Consider alternate sources of funds, including the sale of our sewer system
• Focus their energies on attracting businesses and increasing revenue
• Adhere to Generally Accepted Accounting Practices (GAAP)
• Apply for any and all local, state and federal police department grants available

We look forward to working with you to keep the Jenkintown Police Department in a fiscally responsible manner.

Respectfully yours,

Jenkintown Matters