Posted on 03/23/2011 10:32

Capitolwire: Plan for new state trooper cadets applauded by lawmakers, efforts to fund them discussed.

HARRISBURG (March 22) - While state lawmakers expressed their happiness that more trooper cadet classes were coming, several expressed concerns about how to fund the training of the new Pennsylvania State Police officers.

Acting State Police Commissioner Frank Noonan told legislators during state budget hearings in the House and Senate Tuesday that the state police are currently almost 400 troopers short of a full complement of 4,677 officers.

“Some of our barracks are running about 30 percent below level,” Noonan told the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Another 1,200 officers will soon be eligible for retirement, and Noonan says he expects several of those officers will choose to retire.

Said Noonan to the House Appropriations Committee: “We have a contract coming up in a year-and-a-half. Our normal attrition rate is about 150 troopers a year. In contract years, though, especially if the contract has a negative effect, we anticipate it could be quite a bit more.”

Without new cadets to fill the ranks, which could take a year or more to accomplish, the state police would find it impossible to meet their policing responsibilities, said Noonan.

“That’s why I’m concerned about the potential for a number of retirements in the upcoming year, that maybe we would face a crisis situation if we drop down to 600 troopers down, that would be very difficult for us,” he explained.

In addition to the amount of time it takes, training new troopers costs money, something that is currently in short supply in the commonwealth’s state budget.

Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed 2011-12 state budget anticipates adding approximately 230 new troopers to the officer complement, at a cost of about $13.4 million.

“The bottom line is always the budget and where the money is coming from,” said Rep. Bernie O’Neill, R-Bucks.

To that end, the Corbett administration has expressed support for legislation that would strip municipalities that provide less than 40 hours of local police coverage per week of their local share of fines collected through State Police traffic stops.

Under current law, half of the fines collected through state police patrols in a local municipality are returned to the municipality through a Motor License Fund formula – even if the municipality relies only on the state for police protection.

Senate Bill 237, sponsored by Sen. Tina Tartaglione, D-Philadelphia, would exempt municipalities with fewer than 3,000 residents.

The bill would affect about 1,200 municipalities across Pennsylvania and steer between $4 million and $6 million toward state police cadet training.

The state police provide primary service for about 85 percent of Pennsylvania’s land area and 66 percent of the state’s highways. About 27 percent of the commonwealth's population and 60 percent of the state’s municipalities receive those services.

Some legislators also questioned if it would be appropriate to charge those same municipalities that don’t maintain their own police forces for the state police coverage they receive.

“Why is this allowed to continue to go on … I think that they should have to pitch in and help pay … I think it’s an equity issue, that if they pitch in and help you out, you’d have no issue with hiring more police, or state troopers, for others areas to help everybody else out … call me crazy, I don’t know,” Rep. Paul Costa, D-Allegheny, said to Noonan.

Last session, Rep. Mike Sturla, D-Lancaster, and other lawmakers offered legislation to impose taxes on municipalities that do not have local police service and rely solely on the Pennsylvania State Police.

Legislators in both hearings also asked questions about the state radio system used by the troopers on patrol and about a proposal to increase the gathering of DNA evidence from individuals arrested for serious crimes.

The state’s $368 million, 800-megahertz public safety radio system, called PA STARNet, was criticized last year by representatives of the state police and Department of Transportation as unreliable.

Based on Noonan’s response to questions in both hearings, the issues with the system, run out of the state’s Office of Administration, haven’t been cleared up.

Said Noonan: “There are some concerns that we have about the 800-megahertz system. There are dead zones throughout the state that we’re trying to address. There are problems with talking and scanning – you can only scan two channels with the radios we have now … talking to other police departments is problematic … we also have a very difficult time with ground to air communications. These are all areas that we are looking at.

“I’m open to any solution. I am not married to any particular frequency. I just want something that works, and Kelly, Secretary [of Administration] Logan feels exactly the same way.

“So we want to take a look at this system, understanding that we have put a lot of money into the 800-megahertz system, and we hope to make it work, we’re taking a very fresh look at this.”

As for legislation sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, R-Delaware, that would require individuals arrested for serious crimes to submit DNA samples, Noonan was not too supportive.

“We anticipate a 400 percent increase in our workload if that particular legislation takes place,” said Noonan.

He said the measure would require the state police to hire 35 additional analysts to process the samples, find a new building in which to do the processing and purchase expensive new equipment for the processing.

“We anticipate the first year’s cost would be $13.5 million and then $9 million every year thereafter to do this,” said Noonan. “The one caution that I have is that I can’t turn a switch on and start this process.

“I don’t want us to be overwhelmed by a bunch of submissions before we’re prepared to take them – it take 12 months to train one of these analysts – so until I get the analysts and the positions trained, it would be very difficult for us, and maybe we'd be having a year backlog in the submissions.”

He said currently there is a 270-day wait on DNA evidence processing, unless it’s for a rape case or “a homicide that we push to the front of the line.”