Plans to establish Eastern Regional Mon Valley Police Department move forward

NORTH BRADDOCK, Pa. — Tuesday, plans to establish the Eastern Regional Mon Valley Police Department took a big step forward.

The North Braddock Borough Council voted unanimously to move forward with forming the regional police department, alongside Rankin and East Pittsburgh.

“This here was a huge step forward,” said North Braddock Mayor Cletus Lee.

“I think going with regional police is wonderful,” said North Braddock resident Barbara Rawls.

“I think it’ll set a tone for the neighborhoods to find other ways to work together and to create a culture that causes our neighborhoods to thrive,” said Borough Council President Lisa Franklin-Robinson.

She will join Mayor Lee and Council Member Juanita Giles serving two-year terms as North Braddock’s three representatives on the commission overseeing the new police force.

Rankin and East Pittsburgh are set to officially vote to join the commission and nominate their members next month, on July 11 and 18, respectively.

“Hoping that all goes well with their vote, then we’ll be moved into phase two which will start the onboarding of employees, starting to build out that professional policing culture that this area desperately needs and wants, and we’ll be well on our way to be operational on January 1,” said Gerald Simpson, a peer consultant with the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development who has been assisting throughout this police department merger.

The new police commission will have to hire officers and a chief.

Preliminary budgets show the new department will have 12 full-time and some part-time officers.

According to Simpson, that means these communities will no longer have to rely on patrol help from State Police.

“It’ll be big and vital to this community to have that 24-hour service that’s readily available to respond to their emergency needs or their calls for service,” Simpson said.

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