History
At a regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors held on April 7, 1942, it was agreed to appoint Howard J. Ryan for the position of policeman for a period of one year and to establish the Upper Southampton Police Department. On June 2, 1942, Officer Ryan was promoted to Chief. After 18 months, Chief Ryan resigned.
On October 5, 1943, Clarence Heppe was appointed as Chief. He remained the Township's lone full-time police officer until 1950, when Charles W. Gray was hired.Chief Heppe retired as Chief of Police in 1958.
Sgt. Charles W. Gray was then appointed Chief and served for 17 years. Chief Gray retired in June, 1975, after 25 years of service.
Walter C. Stevens, a member of the department since 1959, was appointed to Chief of Police in 1975. During his 14 years as Chief, the department expanded to 20 officers and established a detective division, cadet program, a juvenile division and K9 unit. He was the first officer from Upper Southampton Police Department to graduate from the FBI National Academy.
In 1989, Chief Stevens retired and Lieutenant David Schultz was promoted to Chief. He served as Chief for 20 years, retiring in December 2009. Under Chief Schultz the department instituted bicycle patrol, motor carrier enforcement, community policing programs and mobile data terminals in the police vehicles.
In December 2009, Ronald MacPherson, was appointed Chief and remains in command of the Department. The present department consists of 22 full-time sworn police officers, three full-time and three part-time administrative personnel (school crossing guards) and a Chaplain. The department instituted directed patrols, an FTO program, awards program, code of discipline, safety net program, patrol rifles, air cards to operate the our records management system live in patrol cars, software program for automated scheduling, software for document management and equipment to e-file traffic citations and warnings. Chief MacPherson retired on March 10, 2021.
