COLUMBIA, PA — A Columbia Borough police officer who was sworn in earlier this year has resigned after only a few months on the job.
At the June 23, 2026 Borough Council meeting, officials included a brief agenda item acknowledging the resignation of Patrol Officer Blaine Schaffner.
No additional details were publicly provided, and like most personnel matters, the circumstances surrounding the resignation were not discussed during the meeting.
Schaffner’s hiring had been approved by borough council in June 2025 as part of an effort to fill anticipated staffing gaps caused by retirements.
He later completed training at the Reading Police Academy and was formally sworn in as a Columbia police officer in January 2026.
Based on that timeline, Schaffner served as a sworn officer with the department for approximately five months.
A review of publicly available court records in Lancaster County shows no obvious criminal or civil cases associated with Schaffner. Likewise, there has been no public announcement indicating that he has been hired by another police department in the region as of late June 2026.
In Pennsylvania, officers who complete academy training receive statewide certification, allowing them to transfer between departments if they choose.
However, those transitions are not always immediately visible to the public. There is no statewide system that tracks where officers move after leaving a department, and some municipalities do not widely publicize new hires.
While the reason for Schaffner’s resignation remains unknown, short tenures are not unheard of in smaller police departments. Staffing challenges, competitive hiring environments, and differences in pay between municipalities all play a role in officer turnover across the region.
For Columbia Borough, the resignation highlights an ongoing issue faced by many small-town departments: hiring new officers is only part of the challenge — keeping them can be the harder task.
