Regionalism is Alive in Pittsburgh

Author John Denny offers five ways the Pittsburgh area is already acting like a region.

"Sometimes bigger really is better and that's exactly the case when Pine Twp., Marshall, Bradford Woods, and more recently Richland Twp., merged their independent police departments into one new force called the Northern Regional Police Department of Allegheny County. On their own, each department was too small and too costly for their individual municipalities. Today, with a force of 30 full time officers, led by Chief Bob Amann who was one of the key drivers, 35,000 residents are receiving improved and less costly protection as a whole. In addition to better coordinated protection, the creation of the Northern Regional Police Department allowed for the addition of a detective school resource officer, accident reconstruction, and combined pension money that made the overall plan much stronger and more affordable to each of the individual municipalities."