What We Know as of July 2024

Over the past six months, residents have been inundated with news about the state of the Borough’s finances and whether or not it would dissolve, merge, or streamline our police department. Starting with this article, we plan to provide residents with a timeline of related events and information to help us all sort out and keep track of the Borough’s activities.

Jenkintown Matters was formed in response to the discovery that Borough Council was secretly deliberating the dissolution of the Jenkintown Police Department and outsourcing policing services. These deliberations were a direct violation of Pennsylvania’s Open Meeting law (the Sunshine Act), which outlines seven very specific reasons for deliberating in an executive session, none of which apply to this subject.

Police Contract and Abitration

The last police contract expired on December 21, 2023. Arbitration, originally scheduled for August, is now set for October, at which time the force will have been working without a contract for ten months.

Bellevue Contract

Council’s secret deliberations concerning outsourcing police services began in the spring of 2023, and in pursuit of this goal, they contracted with PR firm Bellevue Communications in the summer of 2023 to help manage the resulting public response. Bellevue’s proposal dated July 18, 2023 outlines their services in connection with “. . .an announcement about its [the Borough’s] intention to contract with Abington Township for police services, . . .” Bellevue drafted email responses upon request for use by Council reps and broader talking points in order maintain a consistent official narrative. The contract was in effect for two months.

Read the Bellevue Proposal here.

Read the email discussions here.

Discussions with Abington

In the early summer of 2023, representative(s) from Jenkintown met with representatives from Abington Township regarding “absorption of police services”. Manager Locke then met with the Abington Township Manager on Wednesday, July 26, 2023 to discuss outsourcing police services. The following month, in August 2023, Manager Locke met again with “our neighbors” (presumably Abington Township) and was told that Abington Township was not interested in providing policing services to the Borough (“. . . the concept we had discussed with you is no longer on the table for us.”).

Despite Abington’s refusal, on March 23, 2024, Council President Jay Conners tried again, speaking with Thomas Hecker, the President of the Abington Township Commissioners. Conners was told very specifically that Abington Township had no intention of contracting with the Borough to provide police services.

See Emails Confirm Abington Will Not Police Jenkintown

Letter of Intent for “Cost Benefit Analysis”

On May 31, 2024, Jay Conners told Jenkintown Matters: “Jenkintown Borough has not abandoned the idea of outsourcing our police services. . . . I can assure you with 100% certainty that we have every intention of continuing to explore this option and proceeding with the appropriate measures.”.

In furtherance of this intention, Council submitted a Letter of Intent to the Pennsylvania Governor’s Center for Local Government Services, which is part of the Department of Community and Economic Development, on May 23, 2024. The GCLGS supports regionalization of services. 

The ostensible reason for Council’s Letter of Intent was a “cost benefit analysis” of the police department, as stated in the Description of Project field on the form: “Perform a cost benefit analysis of public safety Police services. Assistance is requested in collection, evaluation and analysis of all data required to perform a cost benefit analysis of Police services in Jenkintown Borough. Assistance is also requested in the presentation of the collected data as well as any subsequent recommendations.”

The Letter of Intent also has checkboxes marked for technical assistance with “Police Management”, “Fire Services”, and “Emergency Medical Services”, but the project description contains no reference to those three items.

Read the Letter of Intent here.

Read DCED documents here.