BUTLER COUNTY, Pa. — Evans City-Seven Fields Regional Police Department is losing about half of its officers starting Friday.
The department received three resignations in a matter of weeks for two full-time officers and one part-time officer.
“It kind of hits home when you see three officers leaving in a matter of a month,” said Morgan Hardesty, a Seven Fields Police Commission member.
Instead of having five full-time officers, the department will be down to three, including the chief.
And their other two part-time officers are not available, so they don’t have enough officers to cover the area, especially in the evenings and overnight.
Chief Joe McCombs says they have 35 shifts during the work week, but they can only cover 15 shifts themselves.
The department notified state police to step in with possible assistance from neighboring municipalities so they can continue to have around-the-clock coverage to keep this area safe.
However, some residents are worried.
“Knowing it’s going to be cut has me concerned,” said Joe Shellem. “I understand there will be some coverage by state police, but they are pulled in 50 different directions. The response time can be pretty slow at best.”
Shellem said this is normally a quiet area.
“It’s like anything else, if they know no one is watching, might get a little out of control,” said Shellem.
Hardesty said this will not impact emergency response – medical calls and major incidents – but there will be a decrease in traffic enforcement.
“Unfortunately, there will be an impact on traffic enforcement and nuisance calls, but we live in such a safe community. We maybe get one of those calls a day,” said Hardesty.
Right now, the department has the openings posted. They’ve already received some applications and plan to conduct interviews soon to fill the positions.
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