Hancock and Greenfield could consider combining police forces.

Town Administrator Jonathan Coyne said during Monday’s Select Board meeting that a feasibility study was possible, and Greenfield Town Administrator Aaron Patt confirmed Tuesday that the select boards of both towns met last week to discuss regionalization of services.

“By the end of the meeting, there was a general consensus to put forth a warrant article to see if there’s interest to study regionalization,” said Patt, noting that he was speaking only for Greenfield. “We would like to have a committee take the (temperature) of the room on the matter.”

This is not the first time that a consolidation of forces in the region has been considered.

“Several years ago, five or six towns met to talk about it,” said Patt. “There was a lot of discussion but nothing came of it. Now we’d like to know if the town would like us to research the matter.”

Patt said that in the event that Greenfield approves a warrant article, which is still in the drafting stage, there would be an advisory committee formed.

“It would be volunteers -- no expenses -- who would look at the costs and savings of doing anything,” he said, adding that the town’s Jan. 22 Select Board meeting will include representatives from Bennington, and that police force consolidation will also be discussed there.

Greenfield Select Board Chair Mason Parker explained the reasoning behind the initiative Tuesday.

“It’s hard to staff police forces in small towns,” said Parker. “Budgets are always an issue, and smaller towns lose officers to towns like Peterborough and cities like Keene which pay higher wages.”

Parker also said that fewer individuals seem to be choosing careers in law enforcement these days, so the ranks can get thin when individuals who’ve moved to higher paying municipalities can’t be replaced. He added that there’s already some collaboration with Hancock in terms of their police forces.

“This is strictly about the police, however,” said Parker, emphasizing that no such study had been discussed regarding fire departments. 

At present, Hancock has a full-time chief, a full-time officer and a part-time officer on staff for 1,731 residents in 2020, according to that year’s census. With a population of 1,716 recorded that same year, Greenfield also has a chief and two full-time officers.