Harris Township police preview 2025: staffing gaps, new grants and growing social-worker caseload

Chief John Gardner presented the Harris Township Police Department's 2025 overview to supervisors on Oct. 14, outlining staffing, training and grant-funded technology upgrades while urging continued community support as contract talks with the union proceed.

Gardner said the department is authorized for 60 sworn officers and currently has three vacancies. "We currently have 3 vacancies in the police department," he said, and added that testing and recruitment will begin in early November with an anticipated academy graduation in late November for a recruit already enrolled.

The chief walked supervisors through the department's organizational structure and training programs, noting specialized certifications across traffic, detective, domestic-violence and tactical teams. He said 84% of officers hold college degrees, about 28% are military veterans, and the department has made recent promotions to sergeant after advanced leadership training.

Gardner highlighted several training investments, including crisis-intervention team (40-hour) training and virtual-reality scenario training for de-escalation. "It's basically the gold standard in policing," he said of crisis-intervention training.

He also reviewed recent awards, new hires and equipment: four officers completed police academies and three were released to solo patrol; Officer Betts completed crash-reconstruction certification and now serves in the traffic unit; the department replaced body-worn and in-car cameras this year.

On grants, Gardner said the department won multiple awards for services such as DUI enforcement and domestic-violence case management. He said the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency awarded a grant that will be used to replace the police records-management system and install new surveillance cameras downtown. "We got a grant from PCCD in about roughly about $1,200,000 that will pay for that new record system," Gardner said.

Gardner promoted the police social-worker program as a major operational change. Amanda Matan, the department's police social worker, has been on staff two years; Gardner said she handled 360 referrals so far in 2024 and 1,248 since the program began in June 2022. "She developed ... a partnership with a psychiatric provider that sees individuals within two weeks of referral," Gardner said, and he credited that partnership with reducing demands on patrol officers.

On public-safety metrics, Gardner presented part-1 and part-2 crime data and crash statistics. He said there were no homicides in the township for the reporting period, that assaults and disorderly conduct were the leading incident types, and that total crashes for Sept. 1———through Oct. 31 were 69, with two fatalities unchanged from the prior period.

Gardner closed by proposing a baseline of 76 hours of township police service for 2025, while cautioning supervisors that union contract negotiations this year could increase costs. "This was my best guess," he said. "I don't think it will be much higher than that, but it could go up because our officers are negotiating with our manager."

Supervisors thanked Gardner and pressed on traffic enforcement priorities, quick emergency response times, and recruitment plans. Several supervisors stressed continuing support for social-work services and asked staff to return with any requests for additional funding as recruitment and collective-bargaining developments warrant. The board did not take a formal funding vote at the meeting; budget decisions were deferred to the township budget process.

The police presentation concluded with a short public exchange praising staff and confirming the department will prioritize traffic enforcement as vacancies are filled.