Crime & Safety

Crescent Commissioners, Moon Officials to Discuss Police Patrol Changes

The two parties will hold a closed-door, informational meeting to discuss police patrols in Crescent Township.

Members of Moon's Board of Supervisors will sit down with Crescent commissioners to discuss the possibility of police patrol changes in the neighboring townships. 

Crescent Township Commissioner Karen Patton requested the meeting, Moon Township Manager Jeanne Creese said.

The closed-door meeting will be only informational, supervisors said during their Wednesday night workshop session. No date has yet been scheduled. 

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The meeting will not have a quorum: Moon Supervisors Jim Vitale and John Hertzer will meet with two of Crescent's commissioners. No negotiating will take place during the meeting, supervisors said. 

Crescent commissioners said during a public meeting in August that rising costs in the township have prompted them to consider disbanding their own police department and contracting out services to Moon Township, which employs 30 officers. 

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Patton and Commissioner Joe Sabol met with Moon Police Chief Leo McCarthy and Capt. Greg Seamon in July to request cost estimates related to handing over patrols in the community to Moon Township Police. 

"I don't see the harm in at least hearing what they have to say," said Marv Eicher, chairman of the Moon Board of Supervisors. 

Neither Moon's Board of Supervisors or Crescent's Board of Commissioners have taken any formal action toward changing patrols in the communities. 

Moon Police Chief Leo McCarthy said his department would be able to cover Crescent without hiring additional officers. The department would, however, need to increase the minimum number of personnel on hand during a given shift, he said

He also said Crescent would need to pay an unspecified fee to cover the costs of additional patrols.

"It would be a challenge, but we would make the best of it and provide the highest level of service we can," McCarthy said. "None of these decisions are up to me—I don't have input. They're up to the board."  

In 2011, Teamsters Local 205, which represents Crescent Police, filed an unfair labor practice charge against Crescent's commissioners.

In that complaint, the union said Crescent Capt. Ken Longerman was threatened by a commissioner during a private conversation. The commissioner said the township would eliminate the police department if the union requested additional benefits during upcoming collective bargaining negotiations, according to the filing. 

Click here to view the full labor relations filing. 

Crescent Police dropped the unfair labor charge in April after the parties came to a phone conciliation, said Teamsters attorney R. Anthony DeLuca. 

As a part of that concilliation, the commissioners agreed to "cease and desist with the threats," DeLuca said. 

Moon Police patrolled Crescent Township on weekends from 1987 to 1995, McCarthy said


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