Council Selects and Introduces Chief Sinclair

The Business Meeting of the Nazareth Borough Council featured the hiring of a new Police Chief as well as the regular meeting.

Following the call to order, Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag, and the Roll Call, Council President Dan Chiavaroli opened with thoughts on former Chief Ruch.

Chiavaroli stated Ruch was a strong Chief and community member. He held up a card, like a baseball card, of Chief Ruch from several years earlier produced for officers and read from the back of it, commenting, this is how I remember Bruce. He mentioned his joining the Nazareth force in 1978, advancing to Criminal Investigator in 1988, and then to Chief in 1995.

Then in 2004 a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer was made. Chiavaroli both spoke and read from comments included in the handout that extensively detailed Chief Ruch’s life and career.

At the moment when Ruch resigned, due to the cancer, Council engaged in a process of the whole, so no member would be left out. Ads were placed in March and 28 applicants were considered for the position. The pool was reduced to 10 and then 5. Joe Trella was brought in as a consultant to help Council manage the final process.

Trella noted that the candidates came in to speak with Council and it gave the Council members an opportunity to develop questions for the next one-on-one interview. Trella then provided to Council documentation of the certifications required. He closed by noting that everyone got the opportunity to participate and have a say in a process that went without a hitch.

Mayor Keller then called forward Michael Sinclair, who took the Oath of Office and received his badge along with keys to the police department from Councilman Stoudt.

Chief Sinclair thanked his wife Karen, son Michael, and his brother who came with him while noting he also has two daughters in college who were unable to be there. He recapped his career with the Philadelphia Police Department beginning in 1978 as a recruit through becoming a Captain in 2000.

He said that he spent 29 years preparing for this job. He recently got a master's degree from St. Joe's and realized he had a lot to offer going from the city to a small town and that he looked forward to working with the community. Working with the community was a point of emphasis during his remarks and he noted it was something he did before and was looking forward to doing it again. His desire is to develop community policing, not policing of the community, by which he meant working together hand in hand with the businesses, organizations, and residents. He closed by saying he was grateful for the opportunity and would work to keep Nazareth the great place it has always been.

Chief Sinclair currently lives in Philadelphia and will relocate to the Nazareth School District Area (as required of the Chief). He is married to Karen and has two daughters, Shannon and Krista, and a son Michael. He graduated from Temple University and received a Masters from St. Joseph's. He spent 29 years in the Philadelphia Police Department serving in several positions including as Captain and Commanding Officer of the 22nd District, Narcotics Field Unit, Victim Services Unit, and Southwest Detective Division - his latest assignment.

Chief Sinclair will be required to provide Council with a "Sixty Day Evaluation" on November 5 and a "One Hundred Eighty Day Evaluation" in March of 2008. The evaluations are to be reviews of the Department and are to include policy evaluations and suggested changes, crime statistics, possible remedies to security problems at the Park and solutions to staffing and increased police wage problems according to material in the agenda packet distributed at the Council meeting.