Shippensburg Police Department

 

Fred A. Scott, Chief of Police

 

60 West Burd Street ~ Shippensburg, Pennsylvania 17257 ~ Department: 717.532.7361 Fax: 717.532.2313
 

          Please pull over to the right for lights and siren....whether they are coming up behind you or driving on the other side of the road...Please pull over toward the right hand side for lights and siren         


 

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Borough police seek K-9 unit

By C.J. LOVELACE
Staff Writer

The Shippensburg Police Department will hopefully be welcoming a new, furrier officer in the near future.

Approved by Police Chief Fred Scott and the borough, the department is hoping to enlist the help of a K-9 police dog to better serve the community and combat the recent rash of drugs and crime in the Shippensburg area.

Officer Chris Palamara has been trying to get the word out about starting the K-9 unit and said it will take some help from the community to get it moving.

“It’s in the beginning stages right now,” said Palamara. “I’ve been planning this for the last couple months and putting together the costs. Basically, since the community is going to benefit from it, we’re looking for support from them to push for it.”

The McCune Lumber Company was the first business to donate a check to the department and recently Wal-Mart agreed to provide dog food and a kennel while the Shippensburg Veterinary Hospital offered to provide needed health services for the dog.

Scott said Palamara first approached him about it, and then the chief spoke to Mayor Bruce Hockersmith about bringing in the new unit. Borough council told the department they would need to be “self-sufficient” monetarily and it’s up to Palamara to acquire the financial backing to start it.

“If it’s at no cost to the borough, we’ll get it; if it’s a cost to the borough, we probably won’t,” said Scott. “That’s the bottom line. Every borough is dealing with financial situations.”

Palamara’s estimates include the need for a donated patrol car and necessary equipment for the dog, such as an additional cooling system in the vehicle and a cage.

When asked when he thought they’d have the resources to bring in the dog, the officer had to think for a minute.

“We’re going to try to have it … I would say, at the earliest, it would be next summer as long as we get support and raise some money for it,” Palamara said.

Once in place, the benefits of having a local K-9 unit are becoming more and more apparent, said Palamara, mentioning the increasing amounts of drugs and overdoses the community is experiencing.

“Right now is probably one of the most important times that we’d need a police dog,” said Palamara, who also said the increased expansion of Shippensburg University is bringing more traffic from cities, such as Philadelphia and Baltimore, that are “directly linked” to people bringing in drugs and weapons.

Scott agreed that the dog would be a very nice asset to the department, especially for time concessions.

“We always have to call out (for a dog),” said Scott. “If we have it in-house, it makes it a lot easier to do things.”

One situation fresh in Palamara’s mind when it would have proved beneficial occurred just recently after a robbery at Sheetz when the thief fled the store on foot.

 “By the time we were able to get the closest available K-9, it took almost an hour,” he said. “And it was raining at the time, which made it more difficult.”

This would not have been the case if the police dog was in town. Palamara said he would be the caretaker for the K-9 and it would be with him at all times. Living just a couple minutes outside of town at the officer’s home, the dog would be available literally any time it would be needed.

“One of the biggest factors in being successful with a K-9 is being able to deploy soon,” said Palamara, who said the dog they received in the Sheetz situation did not lead them in the right direction because it was too late by the time it got there.

In addition, a police dog would be beneficial not only as a search and seizure resource, but also as intimidation for criminals and drug dealers.

“Having a police dog is a strong deterrent,” said Palamara. “When they see a dog, it deters more and more people from bringing that kind of stuff to the area.”

“It’s also a big deterrent of personal actions,” Scott added. “People are less likely to come at you or take a defensive position when they know a dog is involved.”

The addition would also promote cohesiveness between area police forces and the state police because it would be another resource available when it’s needed. For example, if a situation would arise somewhere near the borough, like in Shippensburg Township, which is patrolled by the state police, and a dog was needed, the department could respond within a matter of minutes to help.

With a K-9 unit, Palamara noted that it would give the department an opportunity to make a connection with younger kids in the community, too.

“It gives a positive reinforcement with the kids and gives the outlook that the police are a good thing,” Palamara said. “A lot of times the police aren’t looked at as a good thing, but the dog can help that.”

The officer said that it would give them the opportunity to bring the dog to schools and give demonstrations of what a K-9 unit can do to help the community. When everything is in order, the department will look to Castle K-9 near Carlisle to find their dog. Palamara said it is one of the most elite training facilities around.

“That’s the place everyone gets their dogs,” said Palamara. “(Castle K-9) goes over to Europe and handpicks dogs for the program.”

The K-9 Palamara is looking for will be a “dual-purpose” dog, for use out on patrol and for searching for narcotics. The dog will most likely be half Belgian Malawa and half German Shepherd, which is a “good dog starting dog,” said Palamara.

 
For anyone interested in donating to the Shippensburg Police K-9 Fund, they can contact Officer Chris Palamara by email at cpalamara@shippensburg.pa.us or by phone at the Shippensburg Police Department at 717-532-7361.

Drugs, a problem in community.

By Sarah Yoder, Managing Editor

The Shippensburg News-Chronicle

 

Drugs, including prescrip­tions and heroin, are becoming "a serious problem" in Ship­pensburg, said Borough Police Chief Fred Scott.

"There has been an influx of drugs and prescription drugs in the community," he told bor­ough council at the meeting Tuesday evening.

Scott said that his officers have noticed an increase in drug use and drug dealing in the community in the last few years. Teenagers have been selling their prescriptions to other kids, and drug use has also increased among the locals.

"We're mostly concerned about children that have access to drugs," he said.

Scott said that parents should watch their kids closely if they take prescription drugs. Pills like Oxycontin and Rital­in have high prices on the streets and should be closely monitored if given to teenag­ers.

"Parents need to be more cognizant of how kids' drugs are controlled and how they use them," said Scott.

He also said that parents should take note of changes in their kids' behavior. Web sites like www.theantidrug.com list behaviors in kids that could signal drug use and give par­ents advice on how to handle suspicions of drug use in chil­dren.

"We're counting on parents and families," said Scott. "They can find out what to look for and parents should be more observant."

He hopes to work with the school district to tell teachers to be more aware of their stu­dents and their behavior.

"Most teachers know there are drugs in school," he said. "We're just asking them to be more vigilant and bring it to parents' attention when they have a suspicion."

Other serious drugs have also found inlets in Shippensburg.

"We've seen an influx of her­oin, and it's not just the college kids, it's the locals," said Scott, calling heroin a "plague" in the community.

He said that the heroin in town often comes from major cities where users have built up tolerances to the drug, but locals do not have that toler­ance for stronger drugs and are more likely to overdose. Scott told council that there were five overdoses in the area in the past months, and two of those resulted in death.

He said that some nearby communities have drug prob­lems as well. Contributing fac­tors to increased drug use could include higher unemployment rates and parents passing their habits on to their children.

 

Letter to the Editor

I read with alarming interest Chief Fred Scott's assessment of the rise in drug use in our Shippensburg area. The article stated that the fact that "where communities have more enforcement resources tend to make dealers more skittish," a sign that our community needs more of these resources.

It is scary to think our local youth may be at risk from the Philadelphia, New. York City, and Baltimore drug dealers. Most of us visualize our small town as safe from all of this. I am suggesting it is time that our community should add a K-9 dog to the police force. A drug dog, fully trained, would be put to good use in Shippensburg.

The cost of buying the dog and training the dog and handler runs into thousands. I am sure this money could be donated by interested individuals and organizations. I am also sure the value to our community and addition to the police force would make the dog worth much, much more than the cost.

A concerned citizen, Rose Dillner

The Shippensburg News-Chronicle

 

Shippensburg Police Department  Phone - 717-532-7361  Fax - 717-532-2313        Last Modified :11/21/11 10:37 AM          Copyright 2008