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Keeping communities safe: Shapiro, admin spotlight law enforcement support in Lock Haven

LAURA JAMESON/THE EXPRESS PA Governor Josh Shapiro, at the podium, is joined by, from left, PA State Police Colonel Christopher Paris, Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, Clinton County Commissioner Angela Harding, Lock Haven Mayor Joel Long, and LHPD Chief Matthew Rickard.

LOCK HAVEN — Gov. Josh Shapiro and members of state, local and city government highlighted a recent grant award which will assist the Lock Haven City Police Department in hiring quality officers amongst a variety of other initiatives to improve public safety.

Shapiro was joined by Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis, Pennsylvania State Police Colonel Christopher Paris along with local officials such as LHPD Police Chief Matthew Rickard, Mayor Joel Long and Clinton County Commissioners Angela Harding.

Shapiro opened his introductions by thanking Rickard and the various levels of local government that work to provide the resources that are necessary to support their community. This included the county commissioners, district attorney and other law enforcement personnel beyond just the LHPD.

He touched on his travels throughout the Commonwealth and what he’d noted while talking with residents.

“What’s so striking is, rural, urban, suburban communities, no matter how different the terrain looks, the truth is if you spend the time not just listening to folks but hearing what’s on their mind, folks are all basically asking for the same four things,” Shapiro said.

LAURA JAMESON/THE EXPRESS Shapiro speaks with Clinton County District Attorney Dave Strouse.

This includes quality education opportunities, safe streets and communities, economic opportunity in their neighborhoods and protection of individual rights and freedoms.

“I take that to heart and those lessons that I’ve learned while traveling not just through Clinton County but all 67 counties in the Commonwealth have motivated our work in the Shapiro-Davis administration,” he continued.

This, Shapiro said, is what led the administration to take on various initiatives including the decoupling of funding split between the Pennsylvania State Police and transportation; the push for public education reform to equally benefit schools across the state; and the introduction of the property tax rebate program for older residents.

Shapiro’s visit focused in particular on public safety, particularly regarding initiatives by the PCCD — which is overseen by Lt. Gov. Davis — for both local law enforcement and the Pennsylvania State Police.

“When the governor and I first got elected I was honored when he asked me to lead the (PCCD). To make sure we’re driving resources out to keep our community safe,” Davis said. “That is my number one priority as your lieutenant governor.”

LAURA JAMESON/THE EXPRESS LHPD Chief Matthew Rickard speaks with Governor Shapiro while various local and state officials look on.

“To make sure that every community has the right to both be safe and feel safe,” he continued.

This includes working to combat gun violence in communities among other initiatives, he said.

Davis said that when residents aren’t feeling that sense of security “we can’t thrive as a Commonwealth.”

“It’s going to take a comprehensive approach to make our communities safer. And I want you to know the governor and I are laser focused on making sure that happens here in Pennsylvania,” he said.

This includes, he said, working proactively to combat the root cause of violence through educational improvements and other initiatives.

LAURA JAMESON/THE EXPRESS Clinton County Commissioner Angela Harding gives remarks during the press conference.

Through the PCCD and grant programs, such as the one received by the city, Davis said the Commonwealth is “making real progress… but we have to keep our foot on the gas and keep making smart investments that keep making our communities safer.”

The Shapiro Administration worked to secure state funding for over 800 new Pennsylvania State Police troopers and helped to train and recruit for nearly 700 municipal law enforcement positions — providing funding to add nearly 1,500 vacant law enforcement officers in two years.

This included a $14,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency to the city police department to assist in hiring two new officers. Neighboring Centre County received $15,000 for three officers and Lycoming County received $5,000 for one officer.

“It’s really important that we invest in our local police force. Clinton County is a community that relies on local full time police, in particular Lock Haven,” Shapiro said.

During Wednesday’s press conference, LHPD Chief Rickard offered his own remarks, thanking Shapiro and Davis for their work in supporting local police — particularly through the PCCD grant the department received.

“Over the past few years our department has struggled with recruitment and retention of officers. We have continually operated below a full complement, causing delays in response times and impacting residents,” Rickard said.

Rickard said open positions were often left unfilled as applicants could not attend Act 120 training, which is required.

The grant funding received in October 2024 from PCCD, he said, will be used to reimburse costs for the Act 120 training.

After advertising the position with the incentive, Rickard said they received a “record number of applicants.”

According to Rickard, after receiving the grant the city handed out 21 applications for two open positions in its police force. So far eight were returned, but Rickard said he expects several more to be brought back before the deadline of Jan. 17.

He said many had been interested before but didn’t have the ability to fund the Act 120 training themselves.

“The funding opened doors for applicants with barriers in the previous application cycles. We’re thankful for the support of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as we work to build a full complement of officers and in turn support the residents in the city of Lock Haven,” Rickard concluded.

Currently, plans are to begin testing qualified applicants on Jan. 25 with those selected expected to attend the police academy in the beginning of May.

PSP Col. Christopher Paris spoke about the impact the PCCD and Shapiro Administration is having on law enforcement on both a local and state level.

Paris opened his remarks by thanking Shapiro and his administration for the work done to support law enforcement and public safety.

“Public safety is the foundation of strong communities,” Paris said.

Paris touched on the impact initiatives made by the administration have had on law enforcement and public safety.

The Pennsylvania State Police has made significant strides to enhance our ability to serve, protect and adapt to an ever evolving set of needs in our Commonwealth,” he said.

Paris highlighted a few of the initiatives including the elimination of a college requirement to be admitted into the PSP academy. This, Paris said, opened up a much more diverse pool of candidates to serve communities.

In the last two years, he said PSP was able to add nearly 400 troopers to its ranks through support from Shapiro’s administration. PSP has also been able to begin construction of a new academy in Hershey which is expected to be complete in 2028; equipped troopers with body-worn cameras and updated mobile video recorders in patrol vehicles; invested in the fleet of department vehicles to phase out those with over 100,000 miles and replace them with new Chevrolet Tahoes.

Paris also spoke about partnerships between state and local law enforcement.

“It’s at the heart of our efforts to keep communities safe. The Lock Haven Police Department is a shining example of this collaboration,” he said, speaking in part on the PCCD grant funding.

Mayor Joel Long and Commissioner Angela Harding were both on hand to speak during the press conference.

“I’m thrilled to have you all here today to recognize the impact the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency has had on various communities across the Commonwealth, including the City of Lock Haven,” Long said. “In this city we work hard to grow the quality of life for all residents by making safe spaces to live, work and play.”

Long said investing in the police department continues to be a priority to ensure safety for residents, businesses and visitors.

Long noted the city has been fortunate to receive multiple grants from the PCCD in the past two years. This included the funding for recruitment, upgrades to technology for incident based reporting and for tasers for LHPD and other agencies in Clinton County.

“Without the help of grant funding, small cities like ours would struggle to keep officers properly equipped for duty,” Long said.

Harding spoke about the state government’s impact through PCCD on the county level of government, noting the county received over $323,000 that was awarded to county departments in 2024.

“The funding from the governor’s office has immensely impacted our departments and allowed our team to be effective at their job and provide the community with the highest standard of professionalism,” Harding said. “Ultimately these grants help offset costs for county tax payers and help us as commissioners keep the budget line intact.”

In addition to investing in hiring, recruiting and training law enforcement officers, under the Shapiro-Davis Administration, PCCD delivered $5.8 million in grant funding to support law enforcement system upgrades which will enable the reporting of crime statistics to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), according to information provided by the administration.

The 68 approved law enforcement entities can use this funding for upgrades to software, hardware and labor needed to install NIBRS-compliant record management systems; training on how to collect and submit NIBRS data; and/or technical assistance for personnel responsible for data collection and submission.

Data collected through NIBRS captures greater detail on criminal incidents than its predecessor (Uniform Crime Reporting System), including information on victims, known offenders, relationships between victims and offenders, arrestees and property involved in crimes. Broader utilization of NIBRS by law enforcement agencies will result in better data collection, which in turn will make law enforcement agencies more effective in keeping Pennsylvania communities safe.

Shapiro attributed the success of the PCCD and various other initiatives he, Davis and their teams have done through bipartisanship in the House and Senate. He noted he is the only governor in the United States currently whose House and Senate split with one holding a Republican majority and the other a Democratic majority.

“I’m proud to bring together Democrats and Republicans to solve problems and invest in solutions,” he said. “We’ve gotten a lot done.”

Shapiro said he and his administration planned to continue pushing for improvements to public safety in a variety of ways.

“We want to invest in that because we believe in the work being done by police departments like Lock Haven,” he said. “It’s really important we invest in our local police.”

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