Friday, November 29, 2013

Morrisville Taking Steps to Beef up Public Safety

MORRISVILLE/MORRISVILLE SCHOOLS
Morrisville taking steps to beef up public safety
 

December could be a key month for public safety in Morrisville, with interviews of the top three police chief candidates and the potential hiring of three police officers and a school resource officer.
Some Morrisville residents, including Corinne Quince, have told the borough council repeatedly that a chief is greatly needed and it has taken too long to replace former Chief Jack Jones, who left the force Dec. 31. She and others have also called for more security in the schools.
Officials say the district and borough council are working on those issues and more.
The Morrisville School District has approved hiring a school resource officer if the district gets a $100,000 state grant. Of that, $60,000 would be for the officer and $40,000 would be for programming.
The district will get the final decision on the grant by year’s end, said Superintendent Bill Ferrara. If all goes well, the school resource officer would start patrolling Morrisville schools in March.
School officials are working with the local government on the plan, since the resource officer would be a borough employee. Council members are supportive of the school officer, officials said.
Also this month, council will interview the top three candidates for the police chief position.
In July, Morrisville hired the CityBurbs Group, a consulting firm run by Lower Makefield police Chief Ken Coluzzi, to help find a new chief. Nearly 20 applications were received and reviewed by the consulting group, which has narrowed the field to three, officials said.
In other action, the council is in the process of hiring full-time police officers. Later this month, the committee in charge of the hiring will present the final candidates to the council, Councilwoman Eileen Dreisbach said.

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