Former Upper Gwynedd Police Chief William Herr was honored by the township commissioners with a moment of silence during their June 10, 2024 meeting.
Township officials have recognized one member of the Upper Gwynedd Police Department, memorialized another, and welcomed a third.
The township’s commissioners and police held a moment of silence on May 10 to mark the passing of former Police Chief William Herr.
“Many current and past township employees, civil service and township commissioners, community members, and others throughout Upper Gwynedd, knew and respected William Herr and his dedication to his duties, and the township,” said Commissioner Denise Hull.
Herr was born in Philadelphia in 1933, grew up in Upper Gwynedd, and attended the West Point School and graduated from Lansdale High School, Hull told the commissioners at the start of their June 10 meeting, reading a bio from current Chief David Duffy.
He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1951, serving in their Air Police guarding Strategic Air Command aircraft in Newfoundland, Canada, and was later selected for special duty as part of an Air Force security detail assigned to then-President Eisenhower’s “Summer White House.”
“After the Air Force, Bill joined Upper Gwynedd Police Department as a part-time patrolman in 1956. Over the years, he rose through the ranks and graduated from the FBI National Academy in June 1971,” Hull said.
Herr was promoted to police chief in 1979, and served in that capacity until his retirement in 1993, Hull told the board. Through that tenure, Herr was active in the North Penn United Way, taught at Montgomery County Community College, was on the board of directors of the North Penn Volunteer Medical Service Corps, and was president of the Police Chiefs Association of Montgomery County. He also was known for “substantially improving the services provided by the Upper Gwynedd Police Department to our community, especially through training of officers in technical skills and leadership,” she said.
“Chief Herr initiated badge number assignments, and was the first to hold badge number one,” the commissioner added, and “generously gave permission to Chief Duffy to use badge number one, the only badge number ever reissued in the history of the department.”
Herr passed away at his home in Texas on May 28 and is survived by his wife of 67 years, three children, six grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren, Hull told the board. A funeral mass is scheduled for 10 a.m. on June 17 in Allen, Texas, with internment to follow at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery. After reading the biography, Hull asked for a moment of silence from the rest of the board.
“Chief Herr’s professionalism and his service to Upper Gwynedd Township will not be forgotten, and current and past members of the police department remain grateful for the positive impact he had on our community,” she said.
Several other police-related items were also presented by Hull with assistance from Duffy, including a service time commendation for current Officer Minjoo Kim marking five years with the department. In addition to duties as a patrol officer, Kim is a member of Montgomery County’s major incident response team, serves as one of the department’s public information officers, and was selected by his fellow officers as their 2020 Officer of the Year, among other accomplishments.
“Minjoo is one of several officers who, whenever he can, does not like to turn cases over to detectives. He takes complicated investigations all the way, he’s very experienced with search warrants and really takes it to heart: when he grabs something, he wants to get the bad guy. And he succeeds, quite often,” Duffy said.
The chief then presented two public commendations, one to Blue Bell-based nonprofit the Kindle Hill Foundation, for helping the department with mental health services and training in de-escalation, negotiation, managing stress and anxiety, and other services. Kindle Hill President and Director Saly Glassman said her staff and the department “had a lot of fun” administering a recent equine training exercise: “My whole team said, ‘We love this agency,’ and we want to have you back whenever you would like.”
The second commendation went to Shaykh Anwar Muhammed, president of the Ambler Branch of the NAACP and owner of the Black Reserve Bookstore in Lansdale, for helping the department build and maintain ties with that community.
“Shaykh Anwar is never afraid to have difficult conversations: he encourages them. Whether or not the parties end up reaching consensus on an issue, Shaykh Anwar makes sure that all sides have been heard, and any remaining disagreements that may exist are understood and mutually respected,” Duffy said.
Muhammad said the police department has always been supportive of his outreach efforts and community events, and he appreciated the recognition: “The whole thing is an effort to bridge the community and the police. That is definitely the mission. I think we are doing a great job,” he said.
One last police item: Hull read a motion asking the board to authorize a conditional offer of employment for the hiring of a new police officer, and Duffy said his department already has a candidate targeted via testing as part of a regional consortium.
“My fellow chiefs have all given me a lot of dirty looks, over how quickly I got to the candidate list, and did interviews, and got a great candidate,” Duffy said.
“When I was hired here, we did have a female police officer, who worked for 18 years with the department. We will now have three female officers, so it’s going to be exciting in July,” he said.
For more on the Upper Gwynedd Police Department search for “Upper Gwynedd Police Department” on Facebook.
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