Many townships in southern Chester County are risking public safety by not engaging legitimate local police protection. The list includes, in no particular order, East Marlborough, London Grove, Penn, Lower Oxford, and East Nottingham.

Technically, East Marlborough supervisors claim to have a local police force, an operation that once used old police cars with police mannequins in them as visual deterrents. New Garden and West Grove Borough have established a regional force that is ready and able to absorb London Grove and Penn. Oxford Borough is ready and able to cooperate with East Nottingham and Lower Oxford in a regional effort. Kennett Borough could efficiently regionalize with Kennett Township's small police force and East Marlborough.
Reliance on an overworked, small state police barracks is no longer feasible. Cheapskate supervisors are risking serious public safety issues by sitting on their hands, worried about rising real estate millage, when public school districts are jacking up millage 2 to 3 percent annually.

(This is an occasional column written by Uncle Irvin. As always, the column is the opinion of Uncle Irvin, and is not a news story.)