Evesham Twp. NJ Police History & Vintage Photos

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Evesham Township NJ Police

Vintage Photos and History

Hits since 7-09-2000

Prior to 1966, Evesham Township had a volunteer police force which was on duty from 6 PM to 6 AM. NJ State Police patroled the Township during the day.

In the late 1950's, part-time paid officers were added to supplement the volunteers. This photo from 1961 shows Evesham's part-time paid force, left to right Chief William Bradley, Sgt. Wilbur Ivins, Patrolmen Webb Lingle and Robert McDaniels.

This photo was taken in front of the old Cooper estate at N. Locust Ave. and Main St.

In the mid 1960's with Evesham's population nearly doubling, the Township began to plan a full-time paid force. The part-time officers and volunteers dissaproved of an age restriction of 30 years and a requirement of taking exams to continue thier service. In protest the Chief and Sergeant resigned, followed by all but five of the volunteers. The remaining five volunteers were promoted to part-time patrolmen and given authorization to carry firearms.

In July, 1966 Evesham's full-time force went into operation with six patrolmen, a Chief and three of the five remaining officers from the part-time force.

In this scene from July 1966, Evesham Mayor George DeChurches is handing the keys for one of the two 1966 Ford patrol cars purchased for the new force to Chief Andrew Janssen. The cars were light green and colonial white. The green was to represent the color of marl. Police Headquarters were located in the Administration Building at the former Nike missile base on Tomlinson Mill Road, shown in the background.

Patrolman Nick Matteo mans the original dispatching desk

in 1966. Matteo eventually became Chief. In front of him is a vintage

Motorola base station. The police dispatch frequency was 154.980.

Today this channel is Evesham Fire-Rescue's E-NET channel 5.

Residents needed only to dial one number for help now, 983-1111,

instead of a list of several numbers previously used.

Note the manual typewriter under the hat in the foreground...no computers yet!

Joseph Leedom was the first member of the department

to become Sergeant. He became the department's second Chief in 1970.

Note the "Ten-Gallon" hat worn with the original, all-gray uniform.

The hats were later changed to the conventional style, and the triangle patch was replaced with a shield design.

In December, 2001 a new uniform was introduced, with light gray shirts and black pants with gray sidestripes. As a tip of the hat to the past, the shoulder patch was returned to the triangle style.

2001 shoulder patch

Early in 1967, the department moved to the

basement of the newly constructed Municipal

Building at 125 East Main Street.

This was the dispatching desk there, with

Angelo "Bud" Meglio at the microphone.

By 1971, the department grew to a 13-man force.

Here we see one of the four Plymouth Fury III's

used at this time.

The department also dispatched the Marlton and Kettle Run Fire Companies and Marlton First Aid Squad as District 22. In this 1971 photo, Police Dispatcher Nancy Gallagher activates the newly installed Plectron Alert radio dispatching system that was used for this purpose over the county fire band. Ambulances would radio in to the dispatcher on the police channel and fire units used the fire band. In 1977, All District 22 Police, Fire and First Aid dispatching was transfered to Burlington County Central Communications.