GREAT SCOTT!
Longtime Chester cop, county CID Lt. Scott Bireley looks back at 44 years in law enforcement in Delco
ADVENTURES OF 45 YEARS AS A DELCO CRIMEBUSTER
For Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division Lt. William “Scott” Bireley, police work has always been about the adventure.
From darting through a shootout to disarm a gunman or scaling a bridge to save a potential suicide, to busting the elusive “gorilla bandit” or tracking myriad arsonists, drug dealers, murderers and other criminals, the 67-year-old grandfather has had his share, according to Daily Times archives.
“I’d like to say it was all about helping people, but that wasn’t it,” said Bireley, a modest but candid law enforcement officer whose achievements include being one of the first in the state to be teamed with an accelerant-sniffing K9. “For me, it was the whole adventure thing. I think every little boy grows up thinking about being a police officer or a firefighter. I got to do both.”
Helping people along the way, he agreed, was an added bonus.
Forty-four years after he began his career as a patrol officer for the Chester Police Department, Bireley retired July 11 from the county Criminal Investigation (CID) where he rose through the ranks as a detective, most recently supervising both the Crime Scene and Bomb units. He was 18 when he joined the Lima Fire Co., devoting 10 years beginning as a pump operator, then serving as chief engineer, deputy chief and a member of the board of directors.
“Oh my God, it’s like a flash,” Bireley said of how quickly his decades in public service passed by.
No pun intended – but fitting.
“As one of the best arson and explosives experts in the region, Lt. Bireley will be greatly missed, and there is no question that his years of dedicated service have made Delaware County a safer place to live, work and raise a family for our residents,” Delaware County District Attorney Katayoun Copeland said. “On behalf of the District Attorney’s Office, we wish Lt. Bireley the best in his welldeserved retirement.”
Sitting in a Dunkin Donuts in Aston around lunch time last Tuesday, Bireley was feeling good. He’d been running around in recent days, as he put it, “getting things done.” He and his wife, Lisa Brunner Bireley, are spending their time between homes in Middletown and Cape May, and looking forward to many future winters in the Florida Keys.
It was less than a week since he turned in his badge, too soon to fully assess life with all his newfound free time, but not too soon to sense a difference.
“I have worked since I was 14. I got a pay check and I bought what I needed,” Bireley said. “It feels weird to still be getting paid.”
Lisa Bireley said her husband made a similar remark as they were having morning coffee recently. She quickly reminded him that he worked hard over the years, and he was due.
“He did some pretty extraordinary things,” Lisa Bireley said, adding that she and their daughters, Lauren and Christine, could not be more proud.
Starsky and Hutch
Bireley hails from Middletown, having lived on the grounds of the old Hildemere Gardens where his father managed the nursery. The business was located on the site of the Franklin Mint. The second oldest of six children born to William and Marie Wilhere Bireley, both deceased, he is a 1969 graduate of Penncrest
“As one of the best arson and explosives experts in the region, Lt. Bireley will be greatly missed, and there is no question that his years of dedicated service have made Delaware County a safer place to live, work and raise a family for our residents.” — Delaware County District Attorney Katayoun Copeland
High School.
“I grew up on the nursery,” he said fondly.
At 14, he was hired by Wawa Dairy across the street, baling hay and performing other general farm chores.
“It was natural for me,” Bireley said, noting he’s always loved being outdoors.
Regarding his decision to become a volunteer firefighter, Bireley said, “It was another activity.”
He recalled a blaze at the former Len’s Place restaurant in Middletown as among his first fire scenes.
When he wasn’t at work or at the firehouse, he was hunting or fishing, activities he still enjoys.
It was at the firehouse where Bireley met Stephen Fox, now a retired Chester police captain. As volunteer firefighters, the two became fast friends and in later years, were roommates in Chester and served as groomsmen in each other’s weddings.
Not long after Fox was hired as a patrolman for the city, Bireley followed suit.
“It seemed like a good way to go,” he said.
Hired by the city at an annual salary of $9,800, Bireley’s first day with the Chester Police Department was Dec. 10, 1973. John Nacrelli was mayor and Joseph Bail Sr. was chief of police. One of 132 police officers, Bireley was partnered with Joe Bingnear. His other partners over the years were Joseph Hampel, Otto Fontaine, Mickey Cottman, Steve Wilson and Fox.
Dropping the two-officer cars was one of the biggest mistakes the city made, in Bireley’s opinion.
Not only did he feel safe, but he believes that anyone who had any thoughts of wrongdoing would reconsider if there was a second police officer on the scene.
As a patrol officer, Bireley went on all ambulance and fire calls throughout his eight-hour shift.
“There were shootings, but nowhere near what they have today. Compared to today, there were more barroom fights, domestics and stabbings,” recalled Bireley.
In 1979, as the city was plagued with an average of 110-120 arsons a month, then-Fire Chief James McDonald pushed for a special arson unit. Bireley was assigned to the unit, along with the late Thomas Pilkington, and Wilson. When Wilson left the unit, Bireley and Pilkington recruited Fox for the arson team. Within four or five years, Bireley said, arsons dropped to about 20 a month. One individual was ultimately charged in a majority of the arson incidents.
Then, Bireley said, ““we got bored and we started doing our own stakeouts,” referring to himself and Fox. They began working drug, burglary and robbery cases.
“Looking for more adventures,” Bireley said.
“We were adopted by Narcotics,” he added, working under the supervision of John Finnegan and Joe DiCarlantonio.
The pair was considered the eyes and ears for one of the city’s high-crime areas known as the Neighborhood Security Area, or NSA beat, which covered Flower to Thurlough streets between the river and Fifth Street, answering calls from stolen bikes to shootings.
Being friends aided their professional abilities, Bireley told the Daily Times in 1985. “We can read each other’s reactions.”
Throughout the years, Bireley and Fox became known as the city’s own Starsky and Hutch.
‘One hell of a cop’
It was in 1989 when Bireley made to the move to the county. By then, the family moved to Aston.
“Chester was a great training ground,” he said.
Bireley’s first day with CID was July 10, 1989, working under former District Attorney William H. Ryan Jr. and CID Chief Michael Shull. Bireley guesses that working closely with Ryan under his Narcotics Task Force on cases in Chester likely had something to do with his hiring.
Bireley was assigned to the Economic Crimes Unit, partnered with Joseph Ryan, the current CID chief.
“I have worked with him for 29 years. He is probably one of the most downto-earth people I have ever met,” Ryan said. “At the end, he was one of my lead command staff who I consistently turned to, and I never had to worry about his decisions.”
Throughout his years with the county, Bireley investigated crimes ranging from white collar to narcotics to homicide. He was a certified search and rescue diver, as well as fire investigator and bomb technician.
In May 2011, he was promoted to sergeant and in February 2013, he was elevated to lieutenant.
Well-respected, Bireley has a file filled with commendations and awards for his work in Chester, and with the county.
In 1981, he was named
“I have worked with him for 29 years. He is probably one of the most down-to-earth people I have ever met. At the end, he was one of my lead command staff who I consistently turned to, and I never had to worry about his decisions.” — Joseph Ryan, the current CID chief
“Policeman of the Year” in Chester, an honor bestowed by the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 19.
“He represents a caliber of men we have,” then-Chester Officer Adam Sendek told former Daily Times reporter Andi Getek. “Basically, he’s one hell of a cop.”
In her story, Getek detailed what she described as Bireley’s “Supermanlike feats of daring in the line of duty.” Among them was a Sun Village house bombing. Bireley and Fox were assigned to stay in a Sun Village house that police suspected would be firebombed.
“As they lay on the floor in a front room of the house, they watched as some youths approached and threw gasoline all over the house front. It was not until the match was ready to be thrown that Bireley made the arrest. He wanted to be sure,” the story reads in part.
For that investigation, Bireley and Fox were recognized by the Chester Branch of the NAACP.
“That was my favorite award,” Bireley said.
Another feat occurred at the former Taylor Park Plaza apartments, when gunfire was being exchanged between two buildings in the complex.
“I ran like a rabbit through the parking lot, between the cars, to get the one shooter,” Bireley recalled last week.
In his trademark dry-wit fashion, he quipped, “But I was a slow rabbit.”
In 2016, Bireley was recognized by the Philadelphia Crime Commission for his investigative work in the June 2015 fatal shooting of Thomas Childs in Yeadon, which resulted in the recent conviction of Rodney Talbot Shelton.
But fire investigations always remained his passion, because of “the mystique of it,” he said. “Very few cops worked fires.”
Bireley and fellow CID Detective Larry Hughes were among the first in the area to work with specially trained arson dogs.
In 1991, Bireley was teamed with K9 Reggie, a black and tan lab trained to sniff out smells like gasoline. The pair trained through the Connecticut State Police under the supervision of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and over the course of seven years, they worked between 300-350 jobs. When Reggie retired from his services and joined the Bireley family as a pet at their Aston home, Bireley was paired for 10 years with another lab, Rochelle. She, too, ultimately retired as a family pet.
Looking ahead
With some prodding from his wife, Bireley said he began thinking about retiring three years ago.
He was ready to go last year, but agreed to stay on for the transitioning in the district attorney’s office after Jack Whelan was elected to the Court of Common Pleas, and Copeland was appointed to fill the vacancy by the Board of Judges.
“It was a good place to work,” Bireley said of the county.
Come Oct. 13, Scott and Lisa Bireley will celebrate 39 years of marriage. Though he was with Chester when they met and thought she knew what to expect as an officer’s wife, she said, ‘Who really knows?”
Of course, there were sacrifices made because of his work, she said, but the family support never wavered. And support was mutual.
“Scott always loved the work that he’s done,” she said.
Lisa Bireley said she’s always had confidence in her husband’s abilities, as well as the partners he had over the years. Both she and her husband suggested that officers’ riding solo has contributed to more police-involved shootings.
He worries that the new officers are being trained to be paranoid.
“When I was in the city, we didn’t worry about anything because we knew the other guy was there,” Bireley said.
Bireley also believes if someone had any intention to break the law, they might be more apt to reconsider if two officers rolled up in a car.
Citing her husband’s equally strong work ethic and competitive nature, Lisa Bireley said, “Scott always tried his best.”
She recalled how he would come home at 2 a.m. and then go out jogging, “because he wanted to stay in shape to catch the bad guys,” she said.
Early in their marriage, when she told her husband he needed to call home to ease her racing mind during his shifts, he countered, “No news is good news.”
Lisa Bireley decided that made sense, except for the time 12 years ago when she was awakened and found one of her husband’s supervisors, Joe O’Berg, at the door.
“I told him, ‘Joe, just tell me,’ ” she said.
Nervously, he told her that Bireley had been at a particularly bloody crime scene in Chester Township when he slipped and took a tumble down some steps. He wound up tearing a rotator cuff, she said.
Over the years, she said her husband has sustained several injuries.
Last month at the Kings Mills in Aston, Lisa Bireley hosted a retirement celebration for her husband. Nearly 100 family member and friends came, along with co-workers past and present. Guests included Whelan, Copeland, Ryan and Fox.
While Bireley was thrilled to see each and every person, he singled a few out by name, including former CID Chief John McKenna.
“I love McKenna,” Bireley said. “He’s like my old man.”
Looking ahead, Bireley said he will miss his friends at work, but he will not miss his on-call rotations.
“Sometimes those calls are night after night,” he said. “You go to bed at 11 p.m., get up for a call at 1, come home by 3 and back out at 5.”
Bireley is especially looking forward to spending more time with his granddaughter, 8-year-old Mia, and grandson, 4-year-old Hunter.