There is a story completely unrelated to MoreThanTheCurve.com’s coverage area that involves a proposal to charge local governments that do not have a police department and rely on the State Police. The charge would be $25.00 per resident. According to an article on PennLive.com, a municipality with its own police force spends on average $155.00 per resident.

So what do Conshohocken, West Conshohocken, Plymouth Township and Whitemarsh Township spend per resident? Here are the stats:

• Conshohocken has a population of 7,833, spent $2,575,879.00 on police in 2014, for an average of $328.85 per resident
• West Conshohocken has a population of 1,320, spent $1,792,125.00 on police in 2014, for an average of $1,357.67 per resident
• Plymouth Township has a population of 16,525, spent $6,397,210.00 on police in 2014, for an average of $387.12 per resident
• Whitemarsh Township has a population of 17,349, spent $5,020,436.00 on police in 2014, for an average of $289.38 per resident

How were the figures determined? PennLive.com has an explanation from the Department of Community & Economic Development (DCED):

Heidi Havens, a DCED spokeswoman, said that because the data was self-reported by the communities, there’s no further detail about the breakdown of costs or whether other expenses, such as pension costs, were included in the final tally.

So it is not certain that all the departments reported exactly the same. However, West Conshohocken is completely out of whack. It spends more per resident than Conshohocken, Plymouth Township and Whitemarsh Township combined by over $300.00. We are going to email the Borough of West Conshohocken today to try to figure out the cause for such a large difference in spending versus the other municipalities.

If you are wondering, Philadelphia spends $405.14 per person.