The Salisbury Township Police Department was created by an ordinance of the Township of Salisbury Board of Commissioners and began operations in 1958. The Department’s first patrol staff consisted of one Chief of Police and one patrol officer. The first police station (located in the Washington School on east Emmaus Avenue) was a small office and the “patrol fleet” had one vehicle. 

During the past fifty years, the Department has grown from two officers to a total of twenty (20) budgeted officers. Our officers provide twenty-four hour response to all types of emergency calls and calls for service for our 13,500 residents and a 40,000 person daytime population. Three sergeants head three divisions. Patrol Division, Criminal and Fire Investigation Division, and Training/Administration Division. Our patrol staff is divided into two (2) teams, each supervised by a corporal. The patrol staff works a twelve (12) hour schedule, which allows us to place at least three (3) officers on the street for most of our shifts. We are fortunate to have a K-9 team, a full-time School Resource Officer and a traffic safety supervisor as part of our staff. Our officers are trained and equipped to respond to active shooter situations, medical emergencies, fires, nuclear emergencies, vehicle crash rescues, hazardous materials emergencies. Our Department is also tasked with providing fire safety/Life safety inspections throughout our Township on an annual basis. We worked closely with our Township fire companies and our Emergency Management unit to provide a coordinated response to all types of emergencies.

 Our 11.4 square mile, First Class Township contains Cedar Crest Professional Park, South Mall, “The Automile”, the Salisbury Township School District, St. Thomas More School, Swain School, Lehigh Valley Christian Academy, the Arts Academy charter school, five high risk mental health residential treatment centers for adults and adolescents, four (4) elder care facilities, the Lehigh County Work Release Center and a Lehigh County Addiction Treatment Facility, three large apartment complexes, quaint older neighborhoods, historic homes, modern neighborhoods consisting of multi-million dollar residences, Lehigh Parkway, five beautiful parks and a large multi-use recreational area.

The Township is also the home of Lehigh Valley Hospital/Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVH), a major regional trauma center and home base to a fleet of medical helicopters.  The LVH trauma center provides services to traffic crash victims, fire victims and sexual assault victims. Several of the trauma center’s clients are also the drug dealers and gang members from the nearby cities. Our officers are consistently called to LVH to assist with all types of situations.  Lehigh Valley Hospital is also the largest regional distribution center for any mass casualty incident on the east coast.

The Salisbury Township Police Department is also tasked with the protection of several “high risk” structures which have been identified by the Department of Homeland Security and the Pennsylvania State Police Terrorism Task Force as potential terrorist targets.

Our officers patrol eighty (80) miles of residential streets, portions of three Commonwealth highways and a major Interstate highway (I-78). Interstate highway 78 is a main east-west roadway that connects western Pennsylvania with New York City.  Salisbury Township is the smallest First Class Township in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the only township to be cut in half by a large city (Allentown).  The Township lies between the Lehigh Valley’s two largest cities and the main roads connecting Allentown and Bethlehem cross through Salisbury Township.

CURRENT DEMOGRAPHIC

Township Population: 13,505                                       Area: 11.4 Square Miles

POLICE DEPARTMENT STAFFING

Current Approved Base Compliment of Sworn Full Time Officers: Seventeen (22)

One Chief of Police

One Lieutenant

Two Sergeants

Two Detectives

One Corporal

Two School Resource Officers

Thirteen Full-Time Patrol Officers

(One Part-Time Patrol Officer and Five Part-Time Fire Inspectors)

Two Full-Time Administrative Assistants

Four Part-Time School Crossing Guards