County-wide enforcement efforts sought by Sunbury, Norry police

by justin strawser

SUNBURY - The mayors and police chiefs of Sunbury and Northumberland want to regionalize efforts of police departments across Northumberland County.

Sunbury Mayor Jesse Woodring and Chief Stephen Mazzeo and Northumberland Mayor Gretchen H. Brosius and Chief Timothy A. Fink asked the county prison board Wednesday to provide a holding cell for county municipalities.

Woodring said two officers are on duty at all times in Sunbury. If a suspect is apprehended and cannot be arraigned by a magistrate immediately, the person is kept in the department holding cell, requiring an officer to stay in the station. This leaves only one officer for street patrols.

For other municipalities, such as Northumberland, there is often only one officer on duty, leaving no one on the street when a suspect is in a holding cell. The borough, like many others, can only hold two suspects, and the state police barracks does not have a holding cell.

In addition to overtime costs should an officer be called in to cover, Woodring said, "It presents a real safety problem."

Furthermore, explained Mazzeo, the city police department has a "live skin" database - a national fingerprint database that can give results in seconds - that it would like to offer the rest of the county.

A central booking area would increase countywide law enforcement efforts, Mazzeo said.

"It would certainly make it known to the criminal element that this is where we are going in Northumberland County and if you don't like it, go somewhere else," he said.

District Attorney Tony Rosini supports the request, but is not sure how it will all pan out.

"My initial thought was the prison might have the ability," he said, but "I think Warden (Roy) Johnson has people hanging from the rafters right now, and there really is no cell space there."

At one time, said Chairman Frank Sawicki, the board had been looking at a similar request and considered using basement cells or creating a cell in the center of the prison aisles.

Additionally, the issue of funding the project was raised, including who would be in charge of the extra cells and who would pay for them. The board suggested each municipality would shoulder part of the cost.

"The bottom line is we have to do everything we can to keep police on the streets to combat things that are going on," said Commissioner Kurt Masser. "There's going to be pain in this. Guess what? There's pain in what's going on in our neighborhood right now."

Rosini said he will meet with the chiefs and discuss costs. The elected officials of the county municipalities will also be invited to attend such a meeting.

"We are responsible for our police department and the safety of our citizens," said Woodring. "I'm glad you understand."

In other business:

- The Northumberland County Prison will implement Justice Benefits Inc., a federal program that will reimburse a percentage of local dollars spent for services currently being provided by various county offices for the incarceration of illegal aliens.

- The board went into executive session for 80 minutes to discuss litigation and personnel matters.

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