Jenkintown Matters, an NGO which defines itself as “a group of residents working together for the betterment of our community”, was formed in in response to the perception that Jenkintown Borough Council has been moving towards the dissolution of the Jenkintown Police Department since last year.
The group, now allegedly with 50+ members to its name, says it intends to bring transparency to the Jenkintown community regarding police decisions.
From their website’s home page:
We are a Resident Research Group seriously concerned with the future viability and independence of our Borough. We are non-political group of residents with backgrounds in business accounting and finance, government financial analysis and compliance, tech, and media.
The Borough Council’s apparent intention to dissolve our police force due to alleged “unsustainability” compelled us to conduct our own research. We intend to prove to Council, the Mayor and the Chief of Police that we can, in fact, keep our police. Further, our members have volunteered considerable time researching not only the alleged policing issues but other Borough issues as well.
We want to engage our elected local government officials and work with them. We expect competency, transparency, and fairness in return.
Two public meetings in late February attempted to clarify issues and respond to resident concerns in the wake of Jenkintown Borough’s police confusion. Jenkintown Matters’ first official appearance at Borough Hall came via a rally on Thursday, April 25.
“I think there’s substantial interest in this issue, more than the Council is indicating,” Mark Khusidman, a Jenkintown Matters member, told Glenside Local.
“I think Council is still reluctant to abandon its plans to dissolve the department. I don’t know that we’ve really managed to convince them yet,” Khusidman said. “Many are still unaware of the issue. At the same time, there’s a lot of confusion. Some assume it’s a done deal, so one of our main goals is to inform people of the actual state of affairs.”
The group read the letter below at the April 25 meeting and says it distributed copies to each Council member, Mayor Lerman, and Senator Haywood’s office.
“People seemed nervous and insecure about the police situation combined with the new grocery store and new apartment complexes, so a few of us got together to organize and ask questions,” member Jackie Connolly said. “We wanted to understand more of the borough’s financial situation but kept running into a stone wall whenever we asked questions. There were never clear answers.”
Council president Jay Conners told Glenside Local that roughly 25 people showed up to that meeting unannounced, and without anything about the police issues on the agenda for that meeting.
“There was nothing about the police on the agenda. We don’t know what they are, who they are, how many they are. There’s been a handful of people who have come to the last few meetings. Some of them had signs and were chanting ‘save the police.’ It was the same people asking the same questions,” Conners said. “We recognize that this all started through our communications with Bellevue a year ago.”
“They may or may not live in Jenkintown,” Connors said. “They haven’t really identified themselves to us. There’s no accountability when you operate like that. They certainly don’t speak for the community.”
Since that meeting, the group has met on Monday evenings to talk strategy and conduct research.
“Members have their own individual projects, and we’ve been coming together to talk about what we’ve been working on,” Khusidman said.
“We had to do Right-to-Know requests to have basic questions answered. We have a research team looking into bookkeeping and budgets going back about 10 years or so. The rest of us were doing more generalized research about what happens when a police department is dissolved. We’ve been sharing our findings during our Monday meetings,” Connolly said.
Connolly noted that the main thrust behind the group’s activities was to know the borough’s next move after Abington Township declined to combine forces.
“We feel it’s our duty to pay attention to how our local government works,” Connolly said.
On Wednesday, May 29, Council submitted a Letter of Intent to the Governor’s Center for Local Government Services, which is a division of the Department of Community and Economic Development that administers the state’s Peer Assistance Program. The hope was to receive a pro bono cost-benefit analysis and general consultation about what to do with the police, fire, and EMS departments going forward.
“They have retired chiefs and specialists. With all this in the works, we could use all the assistance we can get,” borough manager George Locke told Glenside Local.
“We expect to hear from them soon, and I’m sure it’ll be positive,” Connors said.
Jenkintown Matters seems to support the move.
“I’m kind of optimistic because I’ve also talked to the state. I think they might be a little disappointed about what that office can provide for them. That said, I think their advice will be very helpful, and when that’s settled, I think we need to be more aware of who our Council people are,” Connolly said.
“It doesn’t seem like they really have any viable options. Even if the analysis says that combining is a good idea, they don’t have anywhere to go from there,” Khusidman said.
Connolly compared Council’s approach to “a Supreme Court making decisions for everyone without discussion” and called on the local community to take a more active role in decision-making.
“I don’t think 12 people on council should be the end all, be all. I think more things should go out for public review. I think we need more community-involved government. We understand they’re all volunteers,” she said.
According to Khusidman, the group recently finalized the report below in response to the borough’s position that the police department is unsustainable and that the department’s officers “are ineffective and ethically compromised”, as worded on Jenkintown Matters’ website:
“Basically, we tried to create a rebuttal to the borough’s main points in favor of dissolution,” Khusidman said.
For more on Jenkintown Matters, you can check out their Facebook page. You can also check out Save The Jenkintown Police, a website reportedly run by the Police Benevolence Assocation.
“Our goals are aligned in this case,” Khusidman said about the website.
For all the latest news, follow us on Facebook or sign up for Glenside Local’s “Daily Buzz” newsletter here.
Photos: Jenkintown Matters