HARRISBURG, PA — Sen. Lisa Baker has sent letters to the chairmen of the Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness and Law and Justice committees requesting a joint public hearing be held in Pike County to explore improvements to the state and local emergency response networks.

The request was initially made during the manhunt for Eric Matthew Frein, who is accused of fatally shooting one state trooper and injuring another during an ambush attack at the Blooming Grove State Police Station in Pike County on September 12. The manhunt for Frein, who was apprehended on October 30, involved hundreds of local, state and federal law enforcement agents searching portions of Pike and Monroe counties.

But the ongoing search for Frein, the subsequent arrest and court hearings, and the end of the 2013-14 legislative session combined to make such a hearing hard to schedule in 2014. Now that the new legislative session has begun, Baker has once again requested the hearing.