Irwin Council is keeping a promise it made almost three years ago to beef up the borough police force.

Council has hired four part-time patrolmen to bring the department to the pre-2006 level of nine officers, three of them full-timers.

The new officers are Gregory R. Smith, Pierre DeFelice, Daryl Hankins and Joseph Koberle.

Mounting fiscal concerns forced council to cut two part-time officers on Dec, 31, 2006. Two other part-timers had quit two months before that and a full-time patrolman had resigned earlier that year to take a sales job in the private sector.

For more than two years after that, Chief John Karasek and full-time officers Joe Pocsatko, Mike Thomas and Jeff Wensel patrolled Irwin, which is 1 square mile.

State police from Troop A in Greensburg covered unmanned shifts for vehicle accidents and major incidents.

When requested, North Huntingdon and North Irwin police assisted Irwin police in emergencies.

Since 2006, residents and business owners had appeared before council to complain about what they considered to be a lack of police protection. Some expressed concerns about uncertain lengths of response time by troopers.

The situation eased in June when three part-time officers were hired.

But one of those part-timers resigned to take a full-time post with the University of Pittsburgh police department, then Chief Karasek retired Aug. 31, as scheduled.

"Council promised when we cut the part-timers that when the borough could afford to, we would hire more officers," said Councilwoman Danyce Neal, a member of the police committee.

"We're keeping that promise. The key was Chief Karasek's retirement. Now we have the money to make it happen."

Chief Karasek's annual salary was $54,800 plus benefits.

Officer Pocsatko was appointed as officer-in-charge effective Sept. 1.

"Council did not hire another full-time officer to replace Chief Karasek. We chose instead to use that money to bolster our police department by hiring more part-time officers," said Peggie Watson, who chairs council's police committee.

"Public safety of residents and businesses in our community is a priority because of an aging population. We're still looking at ways to hire even more police."

Officer Pocsatko said: "Our goal is having all shifts covered by our police 24/7 as soon as possible. Ensuring the public safety of our citizens is a priority."

Council also voted, 6-0, to increase the residential quarterly garbage collection fee by $2.81 to $40.56 per equivalent dwelling unit and $7.25 per cubic yard for Dumpsters, a hike of 40 cents. Senior citizens will receive a $5 discount.

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