Uniontown police chief resigns, shrinking staff further
Uniontown’s police chief has resigned from his position, continuing a trend of officers leaving for positions elsewhere that has left the department down several staff members.
Delbert DeWitt had been with Uniontown since 2011, becoming chief a decade later.
Mayor Bill Gerke said the resignation came to his attention yesterday. DeWitt has not formally submitted a resignation letter to City Hall, Gerke said. He has taken a similar position as police chief for Robert Morris University, a private college in Pittsburgh, city staff said Tuesday.
Gerke said the city is actively looking for a replacement.
The department is now down to 12 members, several below its usual size, Gerke said. The city is in contract negotiations with officers, so it has not been determined how many positions will be in the full complement, he said.
“There’s a small town, so there’s always an influx and outflux of officers,” he said. “We’re almost a training ground, and there’s other departments that are paying quite a bit more in salaries and benefits than what we can offer … in today’s society, there isn’t as many people that want to be police officers as what there once was, so police officers are in more demand than ever.”
Because of the ongoing contract negotiations, Gerke said he could not comment on whether the department would look to increase salaries and benefits to attract or retain officers.
In the short term, the Pennsylvania State Police will cover the night shift from 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. until the department can regroup and make more hires, Gerke said.
“We’re always actively pursuing the hiring of officers,” he said.