Pa. Community Looks ahead to a Future Without a Police Department

The Coaldale Police Department has no officers, forcing the borough to rely on Pennsylvania State Police coverage until it decides on its next step.

A combination of retirements and resignations has left Coaldale with too few officers to provide its own 24-7 police coverage for the past several years, said council president Claire Remington.

And since mid-December, when the last of its officers worked their final shifts, the borough has depended completely on State Police for coverage, she said.

Former police chief Joseph Krebs, who previously was an officer in the borough and then its officer-in-charge, left the department in September and now works for the Tamaqua Police Department. Officers Michael Sniscak and Kevin Soberick left in December, officer Todd Weiss retired in December, and officer Matthew Jungbaer’s resignation was approved by council during is Jan. 14 meeting.

Previous chief Keith Krapf formally retired from the department in December 2023, though he had been on disability leave prior to that, Remington said.

State police coverage has been working well so far, Remington said, and the lack of full-time officers within the borough has not caused any major problems to date.

Still, social media feedback from borough residents shows that many would prefer Coaldale to have its own department active again, Remington said.

She agrees.

“No one is happy that we don’t have officers on duty,” she said.

Some of the officer departures came suddenly and as a surprise, she said.

“It’s left us in a lurch,” she said.

While state troopers respond to serious incidents in the borough, response time can be slower than if Coaldale had its own officers, since the borough sits at Schuylkill County’s northeast edge, she said.

Also, troopers do not typically cover quality of life calls, such as for abandoned vehicles or cars parked illegally, which are the types of issues that frustrate residents, she said.

Borough Council is considering bringing back its own officers, though it is not currently advertising for applicants, she said.

The borough also has the option of continuing with State Police coverage, or contracting with another local municipal department to cover the borough, as council has discussed, she said.

Though the borough is in a tough financial situation, there is enough money budgeted to hire new officers if that’s the path that council decides upon, she said.

“We can afford it,” she said.

Council vice-president Kim Gavornik, who chairs the police committee, said during the January council meeting that a proposal would likely be presented at the February meeting.

In Jungbaer’s resignation letter he alleged that some council members don’t have the best interests of the borough or the department in mind and singled out Remington for showing “hostility” to borough employees and taxpayers.

Remington disagreed, and said officers have departed the borough for a number of reasons not in her control.

Remington polled the council members on hand at the meeting and asked if they wanted her to step down, but the four other members present said they did not. Council members Angela Krapf and Frank Hutta were absent.

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