For the last ten years, current Tyrone Borough Police Chief Joseph Beachem has been involved in law enforcement.
And since May 2001, he has brought all that experience to Tyrone for one purpose – to make this community just a little safer.
“And I think we’re doing a good job,” said the 34-year-old. “We’ve got somewhat of a handle on the problems that are occurring here and there’s not a reason to believe that’s not going to continue.”
Beachem grew up in Slippery Rock and started his law enforcement career at Butler Community College, afterwhich, he studied at the Police Academy at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
“I really don’t know why I wanted to enter law enforcement,” said Beachem. “I guess it has to be the idea of feeling like I’m making a difference at the end of each and everyday. Right now, that’s how I feel.”
He took his first job as patrolman at the small, but active, Parker Police Department in Armstrong County, where he was eventually promoted to chief. While there, he also served four-and-a-half years as an employee at the Butler County Jail.
Following his stint there, he took a job as a patrolman in the Ford City Police Department, also in Armstrong County.
He chose to come to the Tyrone area after encouragement from his family and worked weekends in the Greenfield Township Police Department before accepting chief position here in Tyrone.
“I really enjoy working here a lot,” said Beachem. “It’s a lot busier here than I thought. There’s really never a dull moment around here.”
According to Beachem, the largest problems in Tyrone are coupled – drugs and the residual effects of drug usage.
“It’s a tall order that really needs full attention,” he said. “We’ve got huge amounts of drugs coming into this town and the residual crimes are a direct result of that. That’s all the burglaries, the thefts, the car break-ins…and it’s mostly all fueled by drug addiction.”
Beachem said the efforts of his officers, which include a single other full-time officer and 11 part-timers, have really curtailed that activity, but also noted that he, his staff and the community can’t just “give up.”
“It’s going to take a collaborative effort to stop this,” he said. “And so far, we feel the community is supporting us in our efforts.”
Beachem said he is looking to the community to help derail the drug activity.
“We try to tell everybody that if they see something they feel is suspicious, they need to let us know about it,” he said. “There is no complaint that will seem silly or stupid to us. We welcome those extra eyes and voices in our effort to make this the safest town we possibly can.”
Beachem said residents and business owners should keep their eyes open for high volume traffic, especially late at night, that continuously pulls up to a residence, then departs in the next five to ten minutes. He said to also watch for people standing on a corner for any lengthy period of time and making exchanges with people.
“This is the type of activity that usually shows some type of drug trafficking,” said Beachem. “If we know about it, we can investigate it.
“We also want the people to know that we (the police department) know a lot more than we can share sometimes. We’re not trying to keep information away from the people, but we do need to be cautious about our investigations.”
Despite the heavy drug problems, Beachem said there are other concerns in the borough, including domestic violence, drunk driving and juvenile delinquency.
“Most of the complaints we receive are from concerned residents and business owners concerning the noise and loitering, and we spend a good deal of time responding to these complaints.
“We’ve really seen a change in this type of activity, especially this summer, and that’s because of the dedication of this staff to halt this kind of activity.”
Beachem noted the borough’s curfew ordinance has also been more strictly enforced in the recent past. Juveniles under the age of 16 must be home by 10 p.m., and juveniles from 16 to 18 must be home at 11 p.m.
“My goal for this department is to, number one, enhance the image of this community,” he said, “and overall, to make each and every resident to feel a little more safer.”
