Uniontown police chief to retire
When Kyle W. Sneddon first pulled on his navy blue police uniform, he was a bright-eyed, blonde-headed boy of 20, ready to follow in his father’s footsteps helping keep people safe. More than two decades and hundreds of cases later, the deputy constable, turned city detective, turned chief of police will don his white Uniontown chief’s uniform for the last time.
Sneddon, 45, of Farmington announced his retirement this week from the Uniontown police department after 24 years of service.
His last day in uniform will be Sept. 15 but he will maintain his position for several months following his leave while the department reorganizes.
“I love this job. I have loved it and I still love it,” Sneddon said Tuesday. “It is something I enjoy doing. It is hard to leave.”
Sneddon said he has accepted a position as an investigator with the state of West Virginia but could not elaborate further.
“This job has just changed so much,” Sneddon said Tuesday, his feet propped on his desk in his corner office filled with visitors.
The constant in and out of the tight office a reflection of his causal, open-door policy that has made him friends too numerous to count.
“The whole city has changed. It is amazing to see,” Sneddon said.
He reminisced about the homicide cases he has worked as lead investigator, 13 to date, as he passed chocolate cupcakes around the office, a drop-off gift from another person indebted to Sneddon’s gratitude.
“He will do anything for anyone. He sticks his neck out for people all the time and sometimes he gets burned, but it doesn’t stop him from doing it. He is a great guy that I would do anything for,” city police administrator Jodie Ganoe said.
Sneddon said Sept. 15 will be “an emotional day” and an inevitability the boisterous Sneddon has dreaded for years.
“It will be very hard for me,” Sneddon said.
Sneddon, who grew up in Uniontown, became the deputy constable for Magisterial District Judge Lawrence Blair when he was just 20 years old.
In 1982 Sneddon was hired by the Redstone Township police department and was hired the following December as an officer in Uniontown.
Sneddon quickly moved up the ranks of the city police force, promoted to corporal in 1985 and detective in 1989.
Sneddon was named detective sergeant in 1992 and then became assistant chief in 1997.
In May 1998, Uniontown Mayor James Sileo promoted the then 16-year law enforcement veteran to chief, the post Sneddon has manned for the last eight years.
“He has done so much,” Sileo said from his home Tuesday. “He has been a very good servant to the community. He will do anything and everything for anyone.”
Sileo said during his tenure as chief, Sneddon secured numerous grants totaling more than $1 million for the police department.
“Seeing him go is a sad thing and when he leaves it will be a sad day for Uniontown,” Sileo said. “He gave everything he had to his job.”
During his tenure, when he wasn’t driving at breakneck speeds through the city to a robbery or drug bust, Sneddon was rushing off to fight fires for the Farmington Volunteer Fire Department, a passion he has had since his youth watching his father work for the Uniontown Fire Department (UFD).
William Sneddon was the UFD chief during Sneddon’s childhood, affording his son a firsthand view of the life of a firefighter as well as city police officers.
Sneddon said he was hooked watching his dad growing up.
“I watched it and grew up with it and I wanted to do it,” Sneddon said.
Sneddon, who was married in the early 1980s to his wife of 24-years, Marsha Piwowar Sneddon, is the father of three children, James, Joseph and Katie, with both his sons working in law enforcement.
And Sneddon, in addition to instilling his love of community service to his family, has provided ways to make area law enforcement better.
According to Sileo, Sneddon established the Police Reserves, a volunteer unit to help law enforcement during community celebrations and in times of crisis.
Sileo said Sneddon also helped found the county’s Search and Rescue Team, the Fayette County Critical Incident Team, the county’s Emergency Service Unit, the Uniontown Hospital Police Department, the county’s annual law enforcement training program and the Self Defense for Women program.
Sneddon is also credited with re-establishing the detective bureau within the city police department to help combat crime in Uniontown.
The California University graduate has received letters of accommodation from the U.S. Department of Justice, the FBI, the Uniontown Area School District, the Uniontown Hospital, the Crime Victim’s Center, U.S. Attorney General Thomas W. Corbett Jr. in addition to more than a dozen other accommodations for various achievements and endeavors over his career.
During his years as chief, Sneddon handled everything from a Ku Klux Klan rally in Uniontown, for which he received a commendation from the U.S. Department of Justice, to the security for a visit to the city by the Duke of York.
“We did a lot of work together,” Uniontown Capt. Ronald “Crow” Kozak said. “Without taking anything away from the chiefs before him, he took the job with a different kind of zest. He immediately started to try and improve the department with training. It was big on his agenda and it is necessary. It has paid off.”
A few weeks ago, Sneddon, during a slow period in the office, took several stuffed animals the city police give out to area youth and placed them in the window Kozak’s unmarked police car, while Kozak was in a backroom in the city police station.
He beamed a mischievous grin at Ganoe and several other officers as he went outside to further his exploits, placing double-sided tape on Kozak’s steering wheel.
“What?” Sneddon said smiling. “It is good for him.”
It is that lightheartedness that has made Sneddon more than a chief to many at the station.
“We were friends way before we became policemen,” Kozak said. “He is the best friend I have.”
Kozak, who joined the force one year before Sneddon said through the years the men worked many cases together.
“Because of his ability as a criminal investigator I learned a lot from him,” Kozak said. “He has been an asset to the city since he has been here. I mean, He is involved in everything. It doesn’t matter whose fire whistle blows Kyle is going to go. You know he has something to do with it.”