Buying the police

In the past the UGI/Penn East pipeline people have hired some very nasty people to watch over their events.  The “constables” they hired for the meeting at the Firehouse in Lower Towamensing Township last year were positively obnoxious, ordering people around and behaving in a threatening manner.

Consequently, when we learned of the UGI/Penn East meetings with affected landowners on June 3 at the Flagstaff, I decided to visit the Jim Thorpe Police Department to ask for their protection.  You see, we plan to have an informational picket at the meeting site asking UGI/PennEast certain questions, like why do we get a one-time payment instead of a monthly rental fee like people who have cell towers on their land, or why eminent domain is allowed for companies to reap private profit.

It was then I learned that we could not demonstrate in the parking lot because it was private, and, amazingly to me, UGI/PennEast had already hired the Jim Thorpe police to watch over the meetings.

Can private companies hire public police forces?  Must the police be off-duty?  Are they allowed to wear their uniforms?

We’ll be there anyway, on the right-of-way rather than in the parking lot.