Spring City Approves New Police Chief

The Spring City Borough Council met for a regular meeting on Monday night and approved the hiring of Anthony M. Kuklinski as the new chief of police. The vote was unanimous.

According to Mayor Michael Weiss, Kuklinski lives in Gilbertsville. Council Vice President Donald Shaner said Kuklinski works for the Cass Township Police Department in Schuylkill County. According to the Cass Township website, Kuklinski is the chief of police. His first day as Chief of will be June 11.

"He's used to dealing with a small police force, which is all we have in a small area like Spring City is," Shaner said. "He's dealt with a lot of part-time officers. I hope he can stabilize our part-time officers and keep some of them here. We thought it was a good fit, him coming here."

Shaner said that about seven other officers applied for the job. Once Kuklinski starts, Shaner said he hopes to get moving on the hiring of another full-time officer, which was voided by the resignation of Brandon Unruh.

"I welcome him here and hope he can do a good job," Shaner concluded.

Kuklinski was hired as police chief as a result of the recent of , who only filled the role for a total of seven months. Brown has still not returned communications giving a reason for his departure.

Department Gives Updates on Two Operating Systems

Councilman Thomas Kratz reported the police committee met on May 17 and discussed a letter from full-time officer James Wyatt. Wyatt explained he is the current administrator for two systems in the absence of a police chief.

The first is Visual Alert, a Pennsylvania vehicle accident reporting system. Wyatt was told by representatives of the system that the department is in need of an upgrade, costing about $1,500. The committee decided to wait for the hiring of a new chief to make that decision.

The second system discussed was Livescan, which is a criminal records database to aid in arrests and investigations. Kratz said the department used to team up with the Pottstown Police Department to use the service, but has recently teamed with Schuylkill Township. The township charges Spring City Borough $1,500 per year, which covers the cost of using the system and allows any Spring City resident to use the system for background checks and fingerprinting relating to job searching.

In Other News

The department filed 168 complaints for the month of May. Of them, there were reported: five thefts, 25 criminal mischiefs, six traffic citations, 18 criminal arrests, six vehicle accidents, and 62 parking tickets. The department assisted East Vincent Township 10 times, East Pikeland twice, and Royersford once. East Vincent assisted Spring City twice, and East Coventry and East Pikeland both assisted the borough once. Mileage for the month totaled 2,534. The department used 253.2 gallons of gas in May.

Council President Lou DiGuiseppe thanked Weiss and the police department for enforcing parking law.

"We're getting some law around this town," he said. "A 'No Parking' sign means no parking. Those tickets paid for the sweeping of the streets."

Weiss said the department is going to do two 12-hour shifts on the weekends instead of three shifts. The shifts would run 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and 11 p.m. to 11 a.m.