Jenkintown’s recent announcement about the potential closure of its police department due to budget concerns has raised a strong reaction from residents, writes Jesse Bunch for The Philadelphia Inquirer via MSN.

Jenkintown officials have said that maintaining the 134-year police department has become untenable due to mismanagement and that outsourcing police work to neighboring municipalities might be a more economical alternative.

Currently, the police department spends about $2.5 million a year which is about 51% of the borough’s budget. That leaves only half the budget for other municipal services like fire, EMS, and schools.

At a community meeting earlier in the week, residents demanded that the 11-officer department be preserved.

One of their concerns is that outsourcing police work will make the community more vulnerable to crime.

“We’re more concerned with pinching pennies than the quality and well-being of our people,” Andrew Edelman, a Jenkintown business owner said during the meeting.

The plan to close the Jenkintown Police Department is not final, but Jenkintown Mayor Gabriel Lerman said the department’s future needs to be re-evaluated.

“We’re not at risk of closing up our doors, but we know we need to proactively make a decision,” he said.

Read more about the future of the Jenkintown Police Department and its potential closure at MSN.