Neighbor Spotlight: Communication is key for Bridgeville Police Chief Chad King

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Bridgeville Police Chief Chad King believes communication is key both professionally and personally.

“My family are very good communicators, and that is something that was passed on to me,” he said. “You’ve got to be able to talk to people and deal with people. Learning people skills at a very young age has helped me tremendously in this line of work.”

That is one reason his department launched a Facebook page. It has grown from a few onlookers to more than 23,000 followers in just six short years.

“I find it pretty impressive because we’re only a one-square-mile town,” King said. “We have about 5,500 residents … Guys pull cars over and the first thing drivers say sometimes is, ‘I love your Facebook page.’

“We’ve had people in traffic yell out to me and officers, ‘Hey, I love your Facebook page.’ I’ve gotten that more times than I can count. Any major crime that we’ve put on Facebook, sharing photos of the suspects, we have a 100% success rate for solving that crime.”

One of those crimes included a Thanksgiving 2016 robbery of a convenience store. The suspect was arrested after the department received multiple tips.

The Rite Aid in the south part of town was robbed the morning of June 21, 2017.

King said the department received messages from the suspect’s ex-girlfriend, mother of his child and own mother identifying him within 15 minutes of posting surveillance photos.

The post was taken down as part of a deal with the man after he turned himself before the end of the shift.

“When people share this stuff, it’s amazing,” King said. “I inflict a lot of humor into things. It gets people’s attention. They like to laugh, and we get the followers. The more followers you have, the more people are sharing the post as soon as it’s put out.”

Humorous posts include officers with unruly mustaches and beards for no-shave November, various community events and improvised skits.

Some posts have been viewed more than 1 million times, including one involving a pedestrian accident Oct. 15, 2020, at the Washington Avenue and Hickman Street intersection.

A grandmother and granddaughter were walking down a street when they were struck by a vehicle in a crosswalk. Both recovered from minor injuries. The video was shared by numerous media outlets.

Facebook Live posts of the flooding in June 2018 led to several calls for help and a few boat rescues.

Using social media as a tool for the department was first brought up in discussions with other officers and the late Mayor Don Dolde almost a decade ago.

King, 47, was hesitant at first to use Facebook.

“I think in a lot of ways, social media is the root of all evil right now in the world, but it’s also a great tool,” he said. “If you’re going to participate in it and have it, you can’t be afraid to use it. You can’t be afraid to put stuff out there. You’re not going to make everybody happy … You can’t worry about how everybody feels. I try to put out what I think is best for community notification.”

Pasquale DeBlasio, who succeeded Dolde as mayor and served from 2014-2018, lent his support to the project and the first post was made in January 2015.

It was a good morning message from the department featuring a photo of the borough building. The next post was of the police chief’s winter hat.

The chief handles about 95% of the department’s social media content with patrolman Matt Haley doing the rest.

King grew up in Buffalo Township, Washington County.

His desire to become an officer began at the young age of 5 after an incident involving his mother, Lori.

King said she was out shopping for Christmas gifts near the Washington Mall in Washington County one night in the late 1970s when a mugger pushed her to the floor and took her purse. She suffered a chipped tooth and the suspect was never caught. King was not with her at the time.

“I was very young and thought to myself, ‘I want to be a police officer when I get older so I can either stop these types of things from happening or solve them after they happen,’” King said. “If I can do something about it, that’s what I want to be able to do. I pursued that once I got into my early 20s and it has worked out.”

He did not make the move to law enforcement for several years after graduating from McGuffey High School in rural Claysville in 1991.

King, in his teens, joined his father, Willard, and brother, Bill, in the family carpentry and hardwood flooring installation business called King Hardwood Floors.

“We never advertised our business,” King said. “Our business was through word of mouth. So, if you do good work you’re going to get recommended. I learned from a young age going to these different jobs talking to the homeowners, talking to other contractors, communication is the key.”

After a few years of using hammers and nails, King would go on to seek the badge and cuffs.

He graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s police academy via California University of Pennsylvania in 1997.

King worked part-time for Bentleyville and Donegal Township police departments before being hired as a full-time patrolman in Bridgeville in February 1999.

He became chief in December 2009 and now only uses carpentry at home.

“It was a good skill to learn, and I put it to use many times, but I have no desire to go back into that field,” King said. “It’s been too long.”

The family trio would go fishing and archery hunting when not on the clock. King’s office is decorated with a stuffed coyote he killed and a crappie caught by the father.

The family business closed up shop a few years ago. The elder-statesman worked into his 80s. Willard King recently turned 90.

King recently married Jessica Adamski and became stepfather to her four children. The pair tied the knot at the Bridgeville fire hall June 20 when Gov. Tom Wolf briefly allowed venues to open during the pandemic.

King said they met about five years ago at Bridgeville’s Day on the Avenue, a community celebration. Their initial plan was to get married during the event last year, but it was canceled due to covid.

They were fortunate to secure the fire hall after a cancellation.

“Nobody got sick, so it went really well,” King said. “We tried to keep with the Bridgeville theme. It was catered by our favorite restaurants here. It was last minute, but it worked out.”