Upper Gwynedd hires three new police officers

Three new officers have joined the Upper Gwynedd Police Department, as the force looks back on a successful year and ahead to a new one.

“Our motto is ‘Community first,’ and is used as a guide for all of our decisions, both operationally and administratively,” said police Chief David Duffy.

The department serves just over 17,000 township residents plus roughly 10,000 Merck employees, four schools in roughly eight square miles. The department handles roughly 11,000 incidents per year, an average of just over 30 per day, and those include over 180 arrests,3,000 traffic stops and over 400 crashes over the past year.

“Calls range from serious crimes and life-threatening emergencies, to service calls like lost dogs and assisting motorists,” Duffy said.

Once the department reaches full staff, their organizational structure will include 19 patrol officers split among four squads, with one sergeant and three officers in each, with a new traffic safety unit planned for 2025. The patrol division includes two canine teams — one of which earned a special recognition Monday night — and both dogs are trained in patrol and suspect apprehension, canine Fury trained in explosive detection, and canine Gunner trained in drug detection, according to the chief.

The detective division is overseen by a detective sergeant and includes two detectives and a full time crime prevention officer, who teaches the department’s DARE program and participates in community events, while acting as liaison to local schools, senior communities and day cares. The administrative division within the department handle sensitive documents, securely store and process evidence, and handle stress and emotional health issues that arise with other officers, the chief said, while new officers undergo background checks, written exams and interviews.

“Standards for both hiring and promotion are very high, to make sure our residents are served by the best possible police officers and supervisors,” Duffy said.

Training is overseen by the deputy chief, and includes annual bias training, diversity and ethics courses, case law updates, firearms training and qualification, first aid and CPR, and mental health training for each officer, according to the chief. In addition to field training officers, several members are trained to conduct field sobriety tests, firearms training, resistance and de-escalation training, Taser courses, and rapid responses, while officers also take part in the North Penn Police Athletic League’s regional meet-and-greet and community interaction events.

    New Upper Gwynedd police officers Chase Koffel, James Coughlin and Raymond DelGiudice received their badges from family members after being sworn in on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (Credit: Upper Gwynedd Police Department)
  

As he spoke, the chief showed slides featuring dozens of photos of officers on duty, interacting with the public at various local events, and responding to calls. The department works with local nonprofits and agencies like Laurel House, the domestic violence shelter and nonprofit located in the township, and works with county and regional counterparts as needed, Duffy said.

“We have three female officers, and officers with different cultural heritages, that include but are not limited to: Korean, Algerian, and Cambodian. Language skills among officers include Korean, French, Berber, Arabic, Cambodian, Italian, and Spanish,” Duffy said.

The department partners with other law enforcement agencies including the county district attorney’s office, sheriff, county detectives, the county’s major incident response team, the FBI, private security at the Merck complex within the township, and other police departments across the region. Two accident reconstructionist experts in the department work with a North Penn area crash investigation team, and a trained sniper and entry team member is assigned to the county’s central region SWAT team. The department first secured accreditation status from a state commission in 2006, and has earned “premier agency” status since, which the chief said holds the department and its officers to the highest possible standards.

“Having earned that distinction twice, UGPD remains in the top two percentile of professionally recognized law enforcement agencies in Pennsylvania,” he said.

“As individuals and as a team, we will strive to earn our achievements, and always be mindful to learn from our mistakes. And as we close in on our 75th anniversary in 2026, be assured UGPD will take stepping up, community first, to a whole ‘nother level,” he said.

After the presentation, came the oaths: district judge Suzan Leonard administered oaths to new hires Chase Koffel, James Coughlin and Raymond DelGiudice as those three officers received their badges from family members.

Commissioner Denise Hull read bios about each: Koffel lives in Souderton, graduated from Perkiomen Valley High School in 2015 and Centenary University in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in history and secondary education, and graduated in December from the Allentown Police Academy with the highest academic achievement award for his class. Coughlin lives in Philadelphia and has had several family members work in the Philadelphia Police Department; he is a graduate of Father Judge High School, has earned an associate degree in criminal justice from Bucks County Community College, graduating with honors, and graduated from the Temple University Police Academy last March and worked as a police officer for the Thomas Jefferson University Health System before being hired by Upper Gwynedd.

And DelGiudice currently lives in Philadelphia where he has worked as a police officer since 2019; he graduated from Upper Merion High School in 2008, then attended Montgomery County Community College and Millersville University, graduated from the Philadelphia Police Academy, and has received training in narcotics investigations and has served in a plain clothes tactical squad at his prior department.

“During their interviews, all thee of these candidates displayed significant knowledge about Upper Gwynedd Township. They articulated their reasons for wanting to work in our community, and presented themselves as a good fit for the culture of excellence of the township,” Hull said.

All three will serve a one year probationary period, with roughly six months of field training during that year, according to Duffy, and the new hires bring the department up to 23 total officers, two below their authorized strength of 25. Several other police-related items were also approved by the commissioners: a conditional offer of employment to another potential officer, the purchase of two new patrol cars, the outfitting for those two cars, and four police in-car computers, all included in the township’s 2025 budget.

For more information on the Upper Gwynedd Police Department, search for “Upper Gwynedd Police Department” on Facebook or follow @UGPD on Twitter.

This article appears courtesy of a content share agreement between North Penn Now and The Reporter. To read more stories like this, visit https://www.thereporteronline.com