Catasauqua police Chief Kish retires
Recent state report identified issues within department
Catasauqua police Chief Douglas Kish retired Friday, a month after a state report identified a litany of issues with his department.
The borough is looking to replace Kish soon, Borough Manager Glenn Eckhart said. Officer John Wiseman has been named interim police chief.
A 95-page report prepared by a state agency criticized the Catasauqua Police Department for various problems, including the lack of an up-to-date policy manual and excessive overtime. It also claimed the department lacked overall leadership and that Kish didn’t take ownership of the problems identified by the state.
“Based on his absence, I think this was something that we needed to do since there was not really much of a chain of command within the police department,” said Eckhart, who didn’t want to speak on why Kish retired.
Kish hadn’t been present at meetings in which the report was discussed.
The former police chief and Wiseman couldn’t be reached for comment Monday. They began working for the police department in 2003 and 2004, respectively.
Officer Don Stratton, who previously defended the department against the report’s claims, said he was sad to see Kish leave and called the chief a good leader.
Stratton added that it seemed like Kish was forced out because of the report, which he felt blew the department’s issues out of proportion. He said he didn’t think Kish planned to retire before the report’s release.
Kish’s retirement followed the borough’s decision to appoint independent contractor Gerard Gallagher as police consul
tant Feb. 19. Gallagher is tasked with advising the borough on how to address the issues from the report.
“Without finding a guy like [Gallagher], I think there would’ve been no other solution but to dissolve the police department under its current condition,” Eckhart said.
Gallagher previously worked as police chief in municipalities including West Hazleton and Berwick, Columbia County.
Stratton said he was receptive to working with Gallagher but lamented that the police department couldn’t get help from him before the report’s release.
“Why blast the department like that?” Stratton said. “Why not just get that guy in there first?”