Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era

Akron backs police right to arrest without warrant
BY DAVE LEFEVER, Correspondent

If you are drunk and disorderly on the streets of Akron, police can arrest you without needing a warrant to do so.

Borough council members voted unanimously Monday to authorize arrests without warrant, even though it was already standard police procedure.

The resolution they passed spells out the right of officers to arrest on probable cause -- and without a warrant -- anyone who is behaving in a way that imperils any person's security or endangers property. Offenses covered in the resolution include public drunkenness, blocking highways or other public passages and offenses related to underage drinking.

Akron Police Chief Thomas Zell said borough police have always made arrests without warrant for such summary offenses.

"We had it in our police department policy for years," he said.

Akron and other municipalities in the county received a notice from the district attorney advising them to get a resolution on the books, Zell said. Akron council used a copy of a Lancaster city resolution as a model for the one approved Monday night.

In other business:

n Solicitor Kenelm Shirk said the county's January ruling on partial tax-exempt status for Mennonite Central Committee would result in about a $5,500 annual loss of revenue for the borough.

n Council approved a 3 percent pay raise for borough manager Daniel Guers. The raise will be added to his annual salary of $80,220.

n Council approved offering a full-time park maintenance laborer position to Kyle Stayer at a pay rate of $12.50 per hour. Stayer has been a temporary employee of the borough.

n Council President Thomas Murray reported the borough is having difficulty finding volunteers to fill its Civil Service Commission. The borough has been without a three-member commission, which deals with employee issues, for nearly a year.

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