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Public Safety Officers (PSO) Providing Police Protection and More
in Millcreek Township
The Union County Sheriff’s Office has contracted with Millcreek and Jerome Townships for additional
public safety services. These positions are referred to as Public Safety Officers. The Public Safety
Officer (P.S.O.) is a member of the Patrol Division of the Union County Sheriff’s Office. Public Safety Officers
are law enforcement officers that are also specially cross-trained as fire fighters and emergency medical technicians.
History has indicated that in many cases a law enforcement officer will arrive on the scene of a fire or a medical
emergency prior to Fire and EMS (Emergency Medical Service) units. The Public Safety Officer position was
created with the idea of helping local fire and EMS professionals better serve the public.
This new concept is designed to compliment the current fire and EMS structure currently in place in Millcreek and
Jerome Townships. It is not intended to replace or take over for the Fire and EMS professionals, but to supplement
their emergency response with another trained person on the scene.
The Union County Sheriff has combined steps to deliver specially trained Deputy Sheriff’s to assist in this field.
Each deputy is a certified emergency medical technician and fire fighter. When not responding to emergencies, P.S.O.’s
perform a variety of law enforcement functions such as traffic enforcement, civil paper service, business checks,
community policing, and investigating reports of criminal activity.
These law enforcement positions were originally created with the help of grant funding from the Federal Government.
The first PSO was assigned to Millcreek Township in 1998, the second in 1999, and the third in 2001. Millcreek
and Jerome Townships formed a Public Safety District in 1999 and currently, all three PSO’s patrol and respond
to emergencies in both townships. The PSO coverage is in addition to regular patrol deputies that the Sheriff’s
Office has on duty.
The PSO program is a joint public safety initiative between the Millcreek and Jerome Township Trustees, the Union
County Commissioners, and the Union County Sheriff’s Office. The townships are responsible for the salary and benefits
of the PSO’s and the Commissioners and Sheriff are responsible for all equipment, training, fuel, maintenance,
supervision, and human resource matters. The partnership that has developed between the Townships, the County,
and the community is very positive and has benefited the citizens in both Townships extensively.
In November of 2007 the residents of Millcreek Township approved a levy for a period of five (5) years
for the purpose of maintaining the PSO program. As mentioned above this program is shared with Jerome Township.
Based on area, population and other factor a cost sharing agreement was arrange where Jerome Township has approximately
75% of the service of the Deputies and pays the corresponding amount. Millcreek has the PSO Deputies
25% of the time and pays the corresponding amount . |
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