Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday joined Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn, Sheriff Fred Harran, and local police chiefs last Friday for a roundtable discussion on law enforcement recruitment, retention and mental health challenges.
The meeting at the Justice Center brought together about a dozen police chiefs, including from Bristol borough and township, to discuss issues including officer wellness, the ongoing drug crisis, and ways to attract new recruits.
Sunday chairs a statewide task force on officer retention and is participating in conversations with law enforcement leaders.
“The reality is this, if we can’t find a way to attract more people to be police officers and public servants generally, then we’re in deep trouble,” Sunday said. “These are the jobs. It’s the foundation of our community and if our communities aren’t safe, nothing else matters.”
Harran pointed to the collaborative nature of the discussion, adding the chiefs from around the county shared ideas about engaging young people early and helping them understand requirements for becoming police officers.
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com“Today’s generation is not the generation where I came on in ’87,” said Harran, a longtime Bensalem Township officer and its former public safety director before becoming sheriff. “You’ve got to understand that you can’t do drugs, you can’t steal. You’ve got to lead a good life if you want to become a police officer.”
Recruitment challenges were a hot topic, with several chiefs speaking with Sunday about obstacles in finding qualified candidates.
Richland Township Police Chief Rich Ficco Sr. said his department recently conducted one of its most successful recruitment drives in years when it received more than 60 applications for two positions. However, area chiefs reported results haven’t been that high in recent years.
Ficco said background investigations continue to disqualify many candidates due to drug use and theft.
“One of the biggest things that we’re finding is in these backgrounds is the drug use and the theft and it disqualified it just disqualifies them if there’s not been time and distance from it,” Ficco said.
The proximity to New Jersey, where marijuana is legal, creates additional complications for Pennsylvania departments. Ficco noted candidates often fail to understand that legal marijuana use in New Jersey still disqualifies them for law enforcement positions in Pennsylvania.
“We’ve seen mushrooms, fentanyl, all of it for sure,” Ficco said.
Salary concerns also emerged as another factor, especially for smaller departments where pay is lower.
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.comFicco said in his Upper Bucks County community, many officers cannot afford to live in the communities they serve based on current salary levels.
“That’s problematic,” he said.
The discussion also addressed the mental health challenges facing law enforcement officers and the public.
Sunday, the former district attorney for York County and a U.S. Navy veteran, noted the unique stresses of police work.
“Law enforcement officers, for a lot of people, don’t realize like what all they actually do and they see things in the course of one shift that most people could never even imagine even happen in society or have ever seen themselves during the course of their entire lifetime,” Sunday said.
The attorney general said officers today are expected to serve multiple roles beyond traditional law enforcement.
“We ask police officers in today’s world to be domestic violence counselors, mental health counselors, substance abuse counselors, you know, and everything in between, oftentimes multiple times within a one-hour shift,” Sunday said.
Community support for law enforcement was also discussed.
While some chiefs noted challenges with public perception of police, Ficco said his department still receives community support through food donations and other gestures.
The chiefs discussed strategies for rebuilding community trust, including school resource officer programs that help young people become comfortable interacting with police.
District Attorney Jennifer Schorn praised the collaborative approach between law enforcement agencies, adding partnerships are key for effective law enforcement.
“The dialogue was great today and I do believe this collaboration makes a difference,” Schorn said. “We get the job done by these relationships and building these relationships.”
Special agents and prosecutors from the attorney general’s office are working closely with local law enforcement agencies across Pennsylvania, Sunday said.
“I know that the only way that we can make our community safer, the only way that we can win is as a team,” Sunday said. “So we either win as a team or we don’t.”
The attorney general’s office is working with district attorneys, state police, federal law enforcement, and local police departments throughout Pennsylvania on various types of investigations, including fraud and drug cases.
Harran said the chiefs plan to continue working on initiatives to engage young people interested in law enforcement careers.
“We’ve got a great takeaway. The chiefs are going to be working with some young folks that are interested in law enforcement and how we get them to be great police officers,” Harran said.
Sunday is meeting with chiefs from around the state and will be compiling the feedback.
The task force Sunday chairs is designed to look at how the state can work on increasing the pool of officer candidates, increasing officer morale, and growing retention within the departments.
