New Birdsboro police chief takes reins of department
BIRDSBORO >> The new head of the Birdsboro Police Department has settled in and he’s ready for his next challenge.
In October, Birdsboro announced the newest member of the Birdsboro Police Department after its previous chief, Ted Roth, retired after 17 years as chief, and 39 years in law enforcement.
Todd Trupp, 54, of Muhlenberg Township, has had a few months to settle into his new position and says he’s ready for the next step in his career.
“I’ve known Chief Roth for pretty much my entire career. I worked with him at Reading in the vice and narcotics section,” said Trupp. “When he decided he was going to retire he gave me a phone call and asked if I would be interested in learning about Birdsboro.”
Trupp’s career has been an exciting one. After high school, Trupp joined the United States Coast Guard, serving for four years, a decision he says he made because he wasn’t old enough yet to become a police officer.
“Every young boy has toys and I had Matchbox cars and a quarter of my Matchbox cars were police cars. I knew at a very young age I wanted to be a police officer. I joined the Coast Guard because I wasn’t old enough after I graduated from high school to go into law enforcement. You had to be 21. So I did the next closest thing and went into maritime law enforcement,” said Trupp.
Following his service, Trupp was hired by the Reading Police Department where he first worked as a patrolman and made his way through the ranks. He later became a detective for the department, focusing on vice and narcotics for 10 years.
“I was promoted to sergeant and went and took over the crime scene unit for the rest of my career at the city,” explained Trupp.
In 2006, Trupp began working for the Berks County District Attorney’s Office and was later promoted to lieutenant in charge of criminal investigations in 2007. That role included investigations into child abuse and financial crimes as well as work in foren-
sic services.
In addition to his extensive experience in law enforcement, Trupp is also working toward a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice administration at Alvernia University and expects to graduate in May.
“In a department this size, you really need to know all facets of police work,” said Trupp about how his experience will help the department. “There’s no one else to call. We don’t have a detective here, we don’t have a crime scene unit here, we don’t have a narcotic unit here. We have to do it all. We can call on county resources but they’re stretched as well so I think everything I learned over my 35 plus years in law enforcement will benefit the department.”
Although Trupp says he does not have any major changes in mind for the department, he is looking forward to his new role as chief and hopes to advance the department’s technology use and focus more on building community relationships.
“We’re not going to try to make drastic changes. Chief Roth did a great job here. It’s a very well organized department. We’ve got great guys. We’ll make some small tweaks here and there to make us a little bit more efficient. I’m a technology person. I’m in charge of the Berks County Chiefs of Police Association Law Enforcement Working Group for Technology. I chair that committee. So everything technology driven that comes into law enforcement comes to my committee and we decide where we’re going as a county,” said Trupp.
Trupp is now in charge of a department of six officers and a police administrative assistant including one sergeant. All the officers are cross- trained for multiple facets of police work and handle several thousand calls per year.