Prospects might be dim for a merger between Slippery Rock Borough and Township, but the issue of police protection is destined to remain.

As growth continues in the township, including some as a result of Slippery Rock University, and as new law enforcement challenges surface in the borough in coming years, also in part stemming from being a "college town," the realities surrounding police protection in the two municipalities will necessitate changes.

And, although township officials and some township residents don't want to see any increase in their police-related expenditures, it's inevitable that the township is going to need what the borough now provides, and is willing to provide in the future, albeit with a different cost and billing structure than currently exists.

If the current borough-township police services agreement that expires on April 30 is not renewed, the township might be taking a risk that it could later regret. Even now, it's puzzling how township residents can feel comfortable with the prospect of having only the state police, who are based in Butler Township, answering calls in Slippery Rock Township — considering the distance and response time involved.

An attitude that Slippery Rock Township never is going to need local police coverage is foolhardy, as people who were living in the Mainline area of Cambria County in 1975 quickly learned after one borough threatened to pull out of the multi-municipality police association because of a requested small increase in the borough's annual financial contribution.

About six months after the borough's threat, from which it later backed off, the community was part of a sniper drama that proved the benefit of having the quick response of police association members.

Hopefully, Slippery Rock Township never will be faced with a similar emergency situation.

But having only the option of waiting for the state police to travel what might be a long distance to reach a crime scene might exacerbate an already bad, dangerous situation.

In the case of a serious emergency, it would be hoped Slippery Rock Borough police would respond, even without an agreement in place, but there would be no guarantee of that happening — especially since the borough has just a part-time department.

Borough officials also could take action to forbid the borough police from crossing the border into the township beyond, perhaps, university facilities.

Many people who enroll their sons and daughters at SRU probably are surprised to learn that there only is part-time municipal police coverage in the area to complement the university police.

Regardless of the community or merger prospects, the township would do well to find a way to reach a more amicable financial agreement with the borough than the $916 that the township paid the borough in 2009. Police availability is worth more than that.

The borough is seeking about $53,000 per year under a new contract — $10 for each of the township's 5,300 residents, based on the 2000 census. By comparison, the cost to each borough resident to maintain the town's department is more than $100.

Butler County has experienced a number of situations in the past where backward-thinking officials either failed to permit progress or whose inaccurate poor-mouthing about their municipality's financial condition nearly caused them to lose a major project.

People in some municipalities in southern Butler County now are paying a steep price for their officials' past inaction on bringing in or upgrading water and sanitary sewer systems. And one municipality that nearly lost an important improvement was Summit Township, where two former officials nearly caused the demise of the important interchange reconstruction project at Routes 422, 68 and 38, claiming that the township could not afford to pay the lighting costs tied to the project.

In fact, that claim was false.

Now is the time for Slippery Rock area residents to consider what's at stake — both for themselves personally and for their community — regarding the police issue. The near-expiration of the borough-township police agreement is nothing to be pooh-poohed.

Discussion of a possible merger is likely to continue for some time and, again, might never happen. However, the police issue doesn't have the luxury of indefinite indecision.