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Community police departments boosting ranks

Communities throughout the region sought and hired additional police officers, while three welcomed new police chiefs in 2023.

Slatington, Lehighton and Lansford hired new police chiefs.

In Slatington, Greg Winokur was hired as police chief in February following the resignation of Chief Dennis Long, who stepped down in November 2022 for personal reasons.

Winokur, who came from the Bensalem Township Police Department, where he served as an administrative sergeant, began at a salary of $95,000 a year plus benefits in March.

In Lehighton, Troy Abelovsky took the oath of office as the borough’s next police in November. He replaced Chief Joseph Sparich, who submitted his resignation in late August.

Abelovsky brought with him more than 25 years in law enforcement, spending the majority of those years with the Bethlehem Township Police Department, where he last served as sergeant.

He previously worked in Macungie and Walnutport.

Abelovsky was hired at $100,000 a year, under a one-year contract that called for 4% raise in 2024, bringing the annual rate to $104,000.

In Lansford, Kyle Woodward was hired as the next police chief in December. The borough had been without a chief since Jack Soberick retired in May 2022.

Woodward worked for the Baltimore County Police Department in Maryland for 21 years, before returning to the area, where he worked for the Tamaqua Area School District.

Borough council continues to work out the details of his contract, and start date is pending that approval. His starting salary was expected to be $80,000 in the first year with an increase to $84,000 in the second year.

Numerous area police departments sought to increase their ranks in 2023, or sought ways to increase the pool of applicants for available jobs.

Palmerton and Jim Thorpe police chiefs attended a Lehighton Borough Council meeting in October to discuss the formation of a countywide consortium.

The consortium would allow municipalities to share the cost of written and physical agility police testing, which would be administered by the Carbon County Police Chief Association. Municipalities would still conduct their own oral interviews, under the proposal.

Lansford and Nesquehoning officials also expressed an interest in the proposal.