Amity Township police chief settles in new role AMITY TOWNSHIP
AMITY >> There’s very little Jeffrey Smith hasn’t seen in his 18 years with the Amity Township Police Department.
But he sees things a little different now that he’s running the department.
Smith began his tenure in Amity as a patrolman, eventually being promoted to detective, sergeant, interim chief and eventually, the police chief.
It may not seem like much, but a big stressor in a law enforcement officer’s career is when the police dispatcher dispatches the officer to a domestic incident or a traffic stop.
In such cases, “the officer is responding to the unknown,” Smith said. “You hope to resolve the situation peacefully but that is not a given. Things can go south in an instant. What we rely on heavily to prepare ourselves is get as much information as possible from the police dispatcher,”
Smith cited a couple of examples.
“A vehicle stop. You get out of your patrol car and walk over to the vehicle. You notice the driver all fidgety, the driver’s hand, which you cannot see, is moving toward something on the seat. Could very well be a weapon — instead, it is a road map. Another example: an eerie noise complaint coming from inside of a home. The officer arrives and hears screams coming from the living room. He walks into the home very cautiously and discovers two children messing around,” explained Smith.
Smith, 44, is one of 14 law enforcement officers on a force responsible for protecting 14,000 residents in an 18-square-mile township.
Although it is a small community, “Amity should not be taken lightly. It is growing rapidly with commercial establishments, housing, traffic coming through the township, traffic going on and off the 422 Expressway,” said Smith.
And, with the Route 422 Expressway, Amity police are frequently on the busy highway handling crashes, DUIs and heavy wrecks. Not to mention other incidents, such as disorderly conduct, bar fights, domestics, car stops and vehicle crashes.
Considering how busy Amity is now and becoming busier every day, Smith would like to hire two more police officers, a detective, and enhance the police headquarters station.
Smith, a Pennsburg resident, was appointed police chief last March after serving as interim police chief since the resignation of former police chief Andrew Kensey on Nov. 21, 2018.