Doylestown Borough Council tonight approved a new contract with Chalfont and Central Bucks Regional Police Benevolent Associations completing the final step in making the new, expanded Central Bucks Regional Police Department a reality. Chalfont and New Britain Boroughs, the other members of the new regional department, had approved the contract on February 9, 2016, with the Central Bucks Regional Police Commission itself following suit on February 16, 2016, conditioned upon Doylestown Borough’s subsequent approval. With this action, the vision of a single regional department encompassing the Boroughs of Central Bucks County has been realized.
Det Ansinn, Doylestown Borough Council President, stated, ‟New Britain Borough and Chalfont Borough have been amazing partners throughout the negotiation process. We have an excellent foundation and rapport for the ongoing governance of the Central Bucks Regional Police Department. The newly expanded department brings a higher of level of service to its member communities and delivers an even better value for the taxpayer dollar. I am proud of our department. I look forward to its continued growth and ongoing success with our partners."
The new Central Bucks Regional Police Department will begin operating on March 29, 2016. Chief Jim Donnelly stated, ‟I am truly excited and looking forward to providing high quality professional police services to all the residents and visitors to our Boroughs. Doylestown Borough will continue to serve as the headquarters for the new and expanded department. This will provide a greater police presence on each shift. The expansion offers and number of opportunities to address the community policing and quality of life issues that face each of the communities. These opportunities will be taken advantage of and this department will continue to work hard to improve services to all of our citizens.”
The three Boroughs have been working toward this regionalization since mid-2015. The Central Bucks Regional Police Force was Bucks County's first such department when created in 2014, combining the police forces of Doylestown and New Britain Boroughs. It is anticipated that the department will eventually be housed in a new, shared headquarters in the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation maintenance building on North Broad Street in Doylestown resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings to each of the three Boroughs, who would otherwise be forced to address their facility challenges separately.