BCT Editorial – 9/7/08

This page was last updated on September 7, 2008.

Free rides; Editorial; Beaver County Times; September 7, 2008.

The editorial subtitle is “Large municipalities should pay a fee for state police coverage.”

If you’re a frequent reader of Times editorials, you know the Times has no problem with “free rides.” The Times simply believes in free rides for the “right” victim groups and areas. Heck, even this editorial specifically says its displeasure is with “Large municipalities.” Apparently the Times believes it’s OK for not “Large municipalities” to get free rides.

Here’s the bottom line; no one should get free rides. We should all pay our own way. In the case of police coverage, I believe there are four options. A municipality should have its own police force, it should contract with neighboring municipalities for police coverage, it should contract with the State Police for coverage, or it should have no coverage. In the case of no coverage, neither neighboring local police forces nor the State Police would respond to police calls. Rather than have an option forced on a municipality by the Commonwealth, the decision should be up to the municipality voters. If they choose to have no police coverage, that decision should be honored.