Pocono News Section

Are State Police spread too thin?

Are State Police spread too thin? - Friday, November 2, 2007 at 5:50PM EST

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Friday, Nov 2, 2007 @05:50pm EST

They were created to serve rural communities, but are State Police spread too thin?

People who live in these rural communities are all too familiar with windy, hilly back roads.

They drive them every day, but what if State Police need to get somewhere quick in these areas?

In Sullivan County, there are no local police departments

Pennsylvania State Police patrol rural neighborhoods

Headquartered in Laporte, it can take troopers up to an hour to respond to a crime.

But some neighbors aren't too worried.

"we have more problems with bears and bobcats than we have with criminals out here," says Marlin Adams of Eagles Mere.

He says he sees troopers about once a week, pulling over speeding drivers.

troopers say rural counties like Sullivan are challenging.

Trooper Marty Conners says, "the biggest road you have running through sullivan county is 220, and that's a one lane road from one end of the county to the other."

Responding to emergencies isn't easy for troopers.

Often that means leaving the barracks, and taking the interstate, to windy, hilly back roads.

Couple that with a limited number of troopers to each troop, and responding to emergencies could take a while.

Trooper Conners says, "response times are going to be a little big longer just because there's only so many troopers to spread throughout the area."

State Police troop p, based in Wyoming covers Sullivan, Luzerne, Bradford, and Wyoming county.

194 troopers and civilians service more than 330 thousand people.

Rose Krause of Muncy Valley knows the numbers.

She lives miles away from the nearest state police barracks, in Sullivan county but still feels safe.

Krause says, "its' a good response when you want someone, yes. {butt to 21:26} they're out just beyond laporte, the police barracks is, so that's not that far away."

But in some places, state police are even further away.

Response time to little meadows, here in Susquehanna county?

Chris Barnum of Little meadows says, "well, their response time is about an hour and a half. Really? Yeah."

That's because troop r's barracks is in Gibson

There are no major roads to little meadows, on the other side of the county

Troopers have to use back roads, and sometimes aren't seen at all.

Shannon Barnum of Little meadows says, "usually on the weekends, if it's going to be a big weekend, you see them out here, but pretty much that's it."

But the Barnum's say they're out of harms way, because the crime rate is low here.

Barnum says, "i think everyone's going to feel the same way as we do. It's just a small town, nothing happens out here. "

And when something does happen, fire and ambulance crews hit the scene first, holding things down until a trooper gets on the scene.

If emergencies, and crime get out of hand in a certain area, measures are in place to help.

"State Police use a special computer system to track high crime rates in rural areas, like here in Susquehanna county. And troopers will use that information to patrol those areas more than others."

"a lot of times we have only a limited amount of resources, so we need to apply those resources where they're most needed," says Trooper Conners.

And sometimes where they're needed most is in the rural areas.

But according to neighbors in Sullivan and Susquehanna counties, they're getting the job done.

State police couldn't tell us how many troopers are on each shift, or exactly where they patrol.

They obviously don't want criminals to know those numbers.

But like you see, response times can be challenging, but people aren't complaining all that much.