New township police chief named
Upper Moreland lieutenant to replace retiring Chief Tim Dickinson
TOWAMENCIN » The next head of the Towamencin Police Department will bring plenty of experience when 2021 starts.
“Following an extensive process, the board is pleased to announce and introduce the law enforcement professional who has been selected to be the township’s next police chief. Our selection is Timothy Troxel,” said board Chairman Chuck Wilson.
In February incumbent Chief Tim Dickinson announced his plans to retire at the end of the year, closing a law enforcement career that began in 1977 and included 13 years as police chief in Perkasie before taking the top post in Towamencin starting in 2005.
“After 15 years of service as the Towamencin Township chief of police, Tim Dickinson will be retiring at the end of this year — actually, on January 4,” Wilson said Wednesday.
Dickinson and his department dealt with a long list of issues during 2020, including the sudden shutdown of schools in March
due to COVID-19, the passing of longtime supervisor Jim Sinz in May, nationwide unrest over racial violence in the summer, the search for a missing five-year-old girl who was then found dead in an August flood, and ongoing issues like truck traffic and enforcing COVID safety guidelines.
After a lengthy interview process, the board of supervisors selected Troxel, currently a lieutenant with the Upper Moreland Police Department with 25 years of police experience, and currently part of the command staff for a force of 38 fulltime officers and six support staff.
“Over the course of his law enforcement career, Troxel has served as a patrol officer, detective, patrol sergeant, and lieutenant. He was a member of the Montgomery Count SWAT — Eastern Region team for 22 years, ultimately serving as deputy team commander of the 50-officer unit,” Wilson said.
“When we started approaching this process, we were all a little concerned whether it would be difficult to find the right person, and to get that person on board. Well, I have to say that Tim Troxel made it very easy for us in the end,” he said.
Troxel has earned a bachelor’s of science degree in criminal justice and a master’s degree in public safety management from St. Joseph’s University, Wilson added, and has graduated from several police executive management academies, including the FBI National Academy and the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety’s School of Police Staff and Command. He has also been a police instructor for 22 years, and has guest lectured at both Temple and Penn State universities, with presentations at state and national professional conferences, and what Wilson called “numerous awards” during his career, including a Meritorious Community Service Award from the National Liberty Museum and a Team Member of the Year award from the SWAT team.
“He checked all the boxes, in terms of what we were looking for in our next police chief,” Wilson said.
“In our discussions with him, it was very clear that he was a great match for our police department, and for our community. He was also clear that he was someone that could build upon the successes of Chief Dickinson, and address the new challenges facing law enforcement,” he said.
The announcement of the new chief came at the start of the board’s Dec. 9 meeting, as the five supervisors and staff sat socially distanced in the normal meeting room and the meeting was streamed via Zoom online. The board unanimously voted to appoint Troxel and approve a formal hiring agreement, then Wilson asked “Tim” to say a few words, prompting laughs that it was unclear whether he was referring to Troxel or Dickinson.
“It won’t be confusing for that long, just a couple weeks,” Wilson said.
Troxel then thanked the board for their selection, saying he was glad to hear he made their choice an easy one and that he was “very, very excited to be coming here.”
“It’s the pinnacle of my professional career, and I’m so happy to be starting it here in Towamencin,” he said.
“My biggest hope is that I prove to you that you made the right choice, and I’m very much looking forward to coming in here, taking this great department that Chief Dickinson has molded over the last 15 years, and leading that department to even bigger, better places,” Troxel said.
Early goals include getting to know the township’s residents and business owners, and finding ways to, in his words, “make this a great police department in an already great township.”
“I’d like to thank you all for your time, and appreciate your faith in me, and I’m very much looking forward to coming in, hitting the ground running, to start things right away, and get things going as your chief,” Troxel said.
Wilson added that the board’s next public meeting on Jan. 4 will include not only the annual board reorganization, but also a formal swearing-in ceremony for Troxel and public farewells for Dickinson.
“We’ll see you on January 4th,” Wilson said, to which Troxel replied: “You will. Maybe before.”
Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7 p.m. Jan. 4; for more information v isit www. Towamencin.org.
“He checked all the boxes, in terms of what we were looking for in our next police chief.” — supervisors Chairman Chuck Wilson