Written By Eric S. Hermick, Chief of Police
As the very unprecedented and unpleasant 2020 calendar year winds down, and thankfully so, the Chippewa Township Police Department would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the community. Even in these troubled and stressful times related to COVID-19 and highway construction inconveniences, many of you have shown an outpour of support for the police department. PLEASE know that we are honored to serve such great people in such a wonderful community. Your gestures of care and concern speak volumes to our personnel and have helped us all get through some troubling times. Regardless of the current social state of affairs – please know that we are here when you need us, and we are very serious about serving and protecting you.
During this quarter, we have had the privilege to celebrate special occasions. COVID-19 restrictions have reduced the opportunities to get together with family and friends to celebrate; however, drive-by style parades were done through the cooperation of Police/Fire/EMS personnel who volunteered their time to celebrate. One of the larger drive-by style parades we participated in was to honor and celebrate a 6-year old’s perseverance over Cancer. The diagnosis of cancer is life changing in and of itself – for a child it is brutal to deal with – as a parent, it is incomprehensible to watch your child endure this…thanks to the Grace of God and great medical care, we were given the opportunity to celebrate this occasion. Multiple emergency vehicles with lights flashing and sirens blaring combined with family and friends, drove past this child’s home. This child deserved a drive-by style party after fighting through this disease and related painful and sickening treatments. It is totally awesome to be a part of these types of events where we can show how much we care and value them. On October 30, 2020 we made some noise and celebrated with this family and the community.
Currently we have applied for the Body Worn Camera grant which may provide financial assistance to purchase Body Worn Cameras for each on-duty officer. These cameras will enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of our department. The Body Worn Camera will capture incidents and police-citizen contacts improving transparency and accurate documentation of the events. We are also researching in-car camera systems to effectively capture and document what the Body Worn Cameras are unable to. All these recordings will be used to identify any training needs and/or officer conduct issues so we can continue to evolve into the most Progressive, Professional, Proactive Police Department possible.
One of our missions is to decrease crime and clear criminal investigations. This is being done by better training our officers, getting them to the scene quicker and affording them the necessary resources. This has yielded many more cases being closed with an arrest and prosecution of the actor, which serves as a deterrent in and of itself. A second mission of the police department is to reduce crashes and highway injuries and deaths. This will always require proactive policing and enforcement efforts. The goal is to identify and remove impaired and/or dangerous motorists from the highways and roadways before tragedy occurs. Because of the proactive work our officers have been doing, we have been awarded more grant funding to augment our continued efforts. We have again been awarded grant funding for the following programs to augment our efforts:
• Pennsylvania Aggressive Driving Enforcement and Education Program
• Impaired Driving Enforcement Program
• Buckle Up Pennsylvania
• Child Passenger Safety
As our community grows, so does the increase for police services. We recently hired two new part-time officers to increase our coverage capabilities and will continue to provide outstanding police services. This is a difficult year to measure stats due to the unmeasured effects of COVID-19 closures; however, below are the year-to-date stats through October 2020 for your review.
As a department, we are continually looking to improve our customer service and find better ways to serve and protect. Please share any suggestions, constructive criticism, and/or recommendations you may have for us, call me at 724-843-8227 or email me at ehermick@chippewa-twp.org.
Statistics Year to Date
7,317 Total Incidents/Calls
244 Criminal Arrests
69 DUI/Impaired Driving Arrests
5,703 Written Warnings
960 Traffic Arrests
44 Reportable Crashes
