This Delaware County police department moves 4 officers to full-time after struggling with turnover

The East Lansdowne Police Department is changing the way it staffs its force. Four part-time officers are moving into full-time positions in an effort to reduce turnover and keep shifts covered.

The department held a swearing-in ceremony Monday night. With the change, East Lansdowne now has eight full-time officers.

Officer Alexia Williams was one of the officers making the transition.

"It's great," Williams said. "Our pay is different, our benefits are different, our pension."

For 115 years, East Lansdowne relied on a mix of part-time and full-time officers. But Chief James Cadden said frequent turnover among part-time officers made it increasingly difficult to keep the department staffed.

"We were ready to lose five part-time officers, which would have left us with about 160 hours a month in our schedule that we were unable to provide police service for and that would have been a major crisis," Cadden said.

The department lost seven part-time officers in 2026. Many left for full-time positions elsewhere.

The shift to a full-time force will increase the borough's police budget by about 6%, or roughly $100,000 a year.

Borough officials said they were able to reallocate money elsewhere in the budget to cover the additional cost without raising taxes.

"There is no cost that you can put on protection for these wonderful residents in this community," Councilman Perry Bonner-Fennel said.

Cadden said a mix of part-time and full-time officers is common at law enforcement agencies throughout Delaware County. But he said higher training requirements and the demands of modern policing can make it more difficult to rely on part-time officers.

For Williams, a working mother, the change means she can build deeper connections with students in her role as a school resource officer at Vision Academy Charter School and East Lansdowne Elementary School.

"It's a huge deal," Williams said. "I have two boys, so going from part-time to full-time is huge for my future, for their future."