by KYW's Tony Hanson
Pennsylvania state police will begin patrolling a 2.1 mile section of the Schuylkill Expressway -- between City Avenue and Montgomery Avenue -- on Saturday morning. It's part of a slow phase-in that will eventually have troopers patrolling all of the Schuylkill Expressway, I-95, and the Vine Street Expressway in the city.
State police are scheduled to take over entirely by 2008, and Philadelphia police currently assigned to these highways will be reassigned.
Police commissioner Sylvester Johnson says city police have worked closely and worked well with state police on numerous occasions in the past, and this should be no different:
"When state police do come here, there are going to be times when we will have to go there to assist them. And I am sure sometimes if something happens inside the city, they are going to have to come off the expressway and assist us. So we have to work as a team in law enforcement. So I don't have a problem with it because at the same time it benefits the citizens of Philadelphia and it saves the city something like $6 million a year."
But it might not benefit all citizens. the state troopers will be armed with radar to catch speeders, and aircraft could be used in the future.
The Philadelphia police union opposes the use of state troopers on interstates inside city limits, and plans to file an unfair labor practice action and seek an injunction early next week.
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