Chief Brian Biechy served his final day with the Lehighton Borough Police Department on April 26 after 33 years on the job.

Biechy graduated from Northampton High School and moved on to Northampton Community College, earning an associate degree.

“In high school, I was vo-tech,” Biechy said. “I enjoyed it, liked it, but ended up gravitating into law enforcement because I had some friends who were already in the profession.”

From there, Biechy went to Allentown Police Academy. He worked in Slatington borough for a short stint, before he was hired part-time in Lehighton, as well as full-time in Bath.

In August 1989, Biechy was hired full-time with Lehighton. He became police chief in December 2013.

“I can honestly tell you that Lehighton as a borough, and police department as an employer, has been really good to me,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed my relationships with the people, businesses, which helped. I liked that sense of community, and the borough has been great with me.”

Biechy said he was able to do a lot over the course of his career, with Carbon County implementing the task force with the state Attorney General, attending Bike School, TASER instructor school, and defensive tactics instructor school.

“If you wanted to go to a class to better yourself, they never had any issues with that,” he said. “After Columbine in 1999, I was one of a handful of people in the county that got to go for active shooter instructors.”

Biechy said those experiences played an important role in keeping his fresh for the job.

“All those things together just added a lot of variety, which I think added to the whole as far as the longevity,” he said.

Strides made

During his tenure, Biechy said the department added officers, technology to vehicles, and upgrades to equipment.

“When I started, I believe we had just gone to seven full-timers; we’ve then grown pretty consistently since,” he said. “I think it’s a combination of just crime in general ... It’s a matter of what the community wants.”

Biechy recalled how things were about a decade ago.

“Ten to 15 years ago, we were very community-oriented, very active with a lot of the businesses and other agencies within the borough, hospital, school district, businesses, community-oriented services that we provided,” he said.

“Lehighton Borough is growing; to revitalize the downtown, capitalizing on the Lehigh River, other businesses, you have to build a strong infrastructure, and I think the borough was working toward that goal.”

Biechy said there’s been a change in attitude and perception toward law enforcement, but technology has improved.

“We’ve definitely come a long way with our communications, cellphones, a lot of the ways we address traffic issues, a lot of the ways we address crime,” he said. “It’s definitely different with the way we use technology today.”

State of the department

At present, Biechy noted the department is a little short-handed.

Along with Biechy’s recent retirement, Sgt. Scott Prebosnyak resigned earlier this month to take a job elsewhere in law enforcement.

He said that including the chief position, the police department should be at 11 full-timers.

Biechy didn’t hesitate when asked what the biggest issue is currently faced by the police department.

“Definitely the drug issues in the borough, I think that would be most pressing,” he said. “The drug culture anymore is still probably more of the more pressing issues to be dealt with.”

Biechy said he believes the borough is positioned well for future growth.

“Just the growing community, building that solid community infrastructure to help the borough with the revitalization of the downtown,” he said. “The borough, business-wise, I think is growing, that means services need to be provided.”

Calling it a day

Biechy, who lives with his wife, Renee, in Northampton County, said he felt now was the time to call it a day.

“Thirty-three years is a long time to do anything, especially community service,” he said.

“The direction (of the police department) now is just not anything I agreed on the last couple of years, and I was able to retire and do other things,” he said. “I have other interests, other abilities I wanted to pursue.”

Biechy said he was thankful he was able to work with people throughout his career.

“It was the small stuff, having the relationship with the school district, being able to talk to them, the arts students come in and do a mural in the office,” he said. “Just being able to have that relationship.”

Biechy thanked Lehighton Outdoor Center owner Jerry McAward, whom he said helped the police department get the bike program going about six to seven years ago, as well as a lot of the businesses on First Street.

“I really did truly appreciate the people in the borough and all the businesses,” he said. “I appreciated all the relationships to that end; that’s probably what I will miss most.”

Above all else, Biechy said he strived to make a difference in the community.

“I’d like to think I did more good than anything else,” he said. “That’s all we’re supposed to do, and that’s what this profession is about; to be able to do the best you can to help everybody that needs it the best you can. Hopefully, I did that.”