The Jessup Police Department has a new chief.<\/p>\n
Veteran police officer Ed Boettcher will join the department in April at an annual salary of $85,000.<\/p>\n
Council approved Boettcher\u2019s appointment at a special meeting Tuesday, in a 6-1 vote, with council Vice President Curt Camoni the only \u201cno\u201d vote.<\/p>\n
Until recently, Boettcher worked for the Lackawanna County district attorney\u2019s office, after retiring as a sergeant from the Pennsylvania State Police.<\/p>\n
He served as a part-time police officer in Jessup for the last two years.<\/p>\n
Council President Gregg Betti said the borough was looking to hire a chief familiar with community policing and the borough. He felt Boettcher\u2019s experience would prepare him for that role.<\/p>\n
Betti said that because Jessup is a small town, police officers there get to know residents and are quick to respond to the needs of the community.<\/p>\n
Boettcher served with the state police for 28 years, working as an accredited collision reconstructionist before retiring.<\/p>\n
\u201cI loved it,\u201d he said of his time in that position. \u201cI\u2019m a math guy and it was one of the most enjoyable parts of being with the state police.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also served as the staff sergeant at the Dunmore barracks, where he was responsible for the evidence room, dispatchers and mechanics and oversaw other administrative duties.<\/p>\n
He went on to serve as commander at the Honesdale state police barracks in 2020,where he served for two years.<\/p>\n
He concluded his state police career in Dunmore in January 2023.<\/p>\n
Boettcher, whose wife is originally from Jessup, said he looks forward to working for the borough as chief.<\/p>\n
He has already gotten to know residents there, always ready to get out and introduce himself to those he serves.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe in community policing,\u201d he said. \u201cLocal police provide that on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several chiefs in several years<\/p>\n
Boettcher comes to the department after Chief Derek Fozard retired in January.<\/p>\n
He is Jessup\u2019s fourth police chief in just over two years. Former Police Chief Joseph Walsh left the borough in October 2023, after 10 years in the position.<\/p>\n
Longtime Jessup police officer Sgt. Robert Berta came out of retirement to temporarily replace Walsh, serving until Dec. 31, 2024. Fozard officially began as chief on Dec. 1, 2024, before leaving in January.<\/p>\n
In addition to the police chief, the department employs six full-time and six part-time officers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Jessup Police Department has a new chief. Veteran police officer Ed Boettcher will join the department in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152254,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[2119,201,182,139,28,178,180,179],"class_list":{"0":"post-152253","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scranton","8":"tag-jessup","9":"tag-lackawanna-county","10":"tag-local-news","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-pennsylvania","13":"tag-scranton","14":"tag-scranton-headlines","15":"tag-scranton-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152253"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152253\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}