Haverford Township Police Detective Honored

Detective Thomas J. Long received the Haverford Township Police Department’s first annual Officer of the Year Award on Monday night at a Haverford Township Board of Commissioners meeting.

It is the first time in the police department’s 95 year history that an officer of the year award has been given, said Haverford Township Police Chief Carmen Pettine.

Long, an eight-year department veteran and a detective in the Criminal Investigations Unit, was chosen for the award because of his exceptional police work, dedication to duty, leadership and professionalism, Pettine said.  

Long is also a police field training officer and a member of the department’s Honor Guard and Crisis Negotiations Team, Pettine said. 

In the past year, he has attended classes given by the U.S. Department of Justice, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Northeast Counterdrug Training Center, Pettine added.

Long investigated three high-profile cases in 2010, which led to the identification and arrest of suspects, Pettine said.

One case involved a string of armed robberies at pharmacies in Haverford, Marple and Lower Merion townships, Pettine said.  Long obtained a confession from the suspect, Ronnie Tolbert, who is now awaiting sentencing in federal custody, according to a statement released by Pettine.

Another case focused on a serial bank robber in the Philadelphia bank region who came to be known as the “Mummy Bandit,” Pettine said. 

During police surveillance, Long stopped a man wrapped in bandages as he moved towards a bank and identified him as Hiram Adams, Pettine’s statement stated.  Adams confessed to four other robberies to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was sentenced in federal court to five years’ incarceration, Pettine wrote in his statement.

A third case revolved around a vehicular homicide in Haverford Township, in which a suspect driving a stolen vehicle struck the car of two Villanova students, killing one student and seriously injuring the other, Pettine said. 

The driver fled the scene, but Long and other officers worked tirelessly, resulting in Long being able to identify the suspect as Donnie Sayers and obtain a confession from him, which led to his arrest, Pettine said in a statement.  Sayers is now awaiting trial in Delaware County Court of Common Pleas on the charge of third degree murder, as well as related charges, Pettine’s statement said.

The police department plans to give the Officer of the Year Award annually to coincide with National Police Week in May, Pettine said.

At its meeting, the Board of Commissioners also proclaimed the week of May 15 Police Week in Haverford Township to coincide with National Police Week and National Police Officers Memorial Day on May 15.

The Board of Commissioners also gave a proclamation to Scott Carpenter of the West Gate Hills Civic Association to honor him for “many years of service to the township,” Commissioner Stephen D’Emilio said, before presenting Carpenter with the award.

After a series of break-ins, Carpenter volunteered his time and efforts to create a community watch in the 1st ward, D’Emilio said.  D’Emilio also noted Carpenter’s involvement as a coach with the West Gate Hills Baseball League.

In other business, the Board of Commissioners voted unanimously to purchase a complete brine manufacturing system from the Pennsylvania Public Works Equipment Company in Harrisburg for $102,350.

Brine, a liquid mixture of rock salt and water, can be sprayed on roads to melt snow and ice.

“The cost savings to the township were quite convincing,” commissioner William Wechsler said.

The township will save a minimum of $40,000 a year on its salt budget by using brine instead of rock salt because brine costs less, Township Manager Lawrence Gentile told the Haverford-Havertown Patch in an interview after the meeting.

There will also be additional savings on fuel and overtime costs because brine will require fewer applications than rock salt, and it will be better for the environment because using less salt means there will be less salt washing down into the storm water drains, Gentile said.

Commissioner Chis Connell told Patch that using brine will also cut down on the potential for road hazards because the township will be acting on storms by melting snow and ice with brine, rather than reacting by plowing the snow.

The board also voted unanimously to amend the Llanerch Fire Company’s interest payment on an outstanding loan from 4.69 percent to 2.67 percent over the remaining six years on the loan.

The fire company is not asking that the loan be forgiven, Connell said.

“The amount due is $290,000, which they’ll continue to pay,” Connell said.

The volunteer fire company is getting a lower interest rate because the township refinanced a 2001 bond issue and the fire company’s loan was part of that bond issue, Connell explained to Patch after the meeting. 

“They’ll save $25,000 over the cost of the loan, which will mature in six years,” Connell told Patch.