New Police Chief Trail takes oath
Sharing life lessons, new head of department vows to develop plans, manage chaos, work hard for town
LANSDALE » The newest head of the Lansdale Police Department can now remove the word “acting” from his title.
Michael Trail was sworn in to be the borough’s next full time police chief Wednesday night, and spelled out his vision for the future of the department.
“Many of you who know me, know I’m a person who’s usually not at a loss for words, but tonight is one of those occasions,” Trail said.
A member of the Lansdale Police Department since 2002 and an officer for a decade before then, Trail worked his way up from patrolman, to detective, patrol supervisor, sergeant, then acting chief after the retirement of prior Chief Robert McDyre last summer and permanent chief last month.
Speaking before a full room of friends, family and fellow police officers — including his predecessors McDyre and Joseph McGuriman — Trail recalled certain pivotal moments in his life, and the lessons that led him to the position which was made formal at the start of Wednesday night’s council meeting.
“I grew up in Bucks County, and at 19 years old I was really into cars. When you’re 19 and you’re into cars, it’s not very long until you meet the police — and a couple of them are in this room,” he said with a wry smile.
Regular friendly conversations
with an officer in the Newtown Township police department led Trail to eventually decide he wanted to do the same, and that led to his first main life lesson.
“What he had told me, among many things, was ‘If you really want to do this, start with a plan.’ So theme number one is, start with a plan,” Trail said.
By 1998, Trail was working as a patrol officer in Baltimore, and was working on a stopped vehicle with a stolen license plate when a call came in for a shooting just a block away, and Trail responded quickly — a little too quickly, as his command sergeant soon noticed.
“As he went through all my paperwork, he realized that I didn’t have an evidence receipt for that stolen license plate, that
I should’ve taken off the truck and turned into evidence. So he quickly asked me, so I said ‘I don’t know, Sarge.’ He said, ‘Where’s the license plate?’ I said, ‘I don’t know that either.’” Trail said.
“That was the first time where I was ever cursed out in two languages,” he recalled, and when talking to
superiors the next day, Trail told them the situation had been too confused and chaotic — a situation the officers told him to prevent from ever happening again.
“I said to him ‘Well, sergeant, it was so busy, it was so chaotic, it was just chaos. I must’ve just simply forgotten it.’ And one of the things he related to me was, sometimes chaos is our business,” Trail said.
“As police officers, we’re tasked with managing chaos, and working through it. We should never let it manage us. So theme number two is managing the chaos,” he said.
His third lesson came after a brief career change in 2001, when Trail left the Baltimore police department and went to work as a stockbroker for Morgan Stanley. While working through his licencing, a manager asked how he was doing, and when Trail said he didn’t know if he would be able to handle the job, the superior recalled his own days in military flight school.
“HE realized there were people in there who were much more talented, much stronger, much smarter. And he realized, the only variable he could bring to this equation was the ability to out work every single one of them. Which he did. So theme number three: hard work,” said Trail.
During his remarks, Trail thanked his wife Grace for her unwavering support, council for a lengthy search process, and Mayor Garry Herbert who administered his oath. Herbert said he has already been impressed with a department-wide meeting Trail led in early march to discuss their goals and expectations going forward, including a planned technology upgrade.
“In the months to come, I am excited to see the Chief bring his vision to fruition, and look forward to Lansdale being one of the most forward thinking police departments in the area,” Herbert said.
As he ended his remarks, the new chief vowed that the department’s best days are still ahead.
“I pledge to you that we’re going to work together, to develop a great plan, to carry Lansdale Borough forward into the 21st century of policing. I pledge to you that, along the way, together we will earn to manage the chaos that may befall our community, from time to time,” Trail said.
“And lastly, on behalf of the men and women in our department, and myself, I pledge to you my unwavering commitment to work as hard as I have to, to keep Lansdale Borough a great place to live, work and play.”