The Upper Merion Police Department is an accredited police agency committed to the following objectives that allow them to be a premier law enforcement agency in the region:
Blaine Leis, Director of Public Safety / Chief of Police
- Problem Solving and Accountability
- Professionalism of Policing
- Building Trust and Legitimacy
- Critical Incident Preparedness
- Community Communications
The department strives to keep crime rates down while continuing to build the public’s trust. Ultimately they are committed to keeping residents and visitors safe while achieving and maintaining a superior quality of life within the community.
The 74-officer department is comprised of the Chief, a Captain, and six Lieutenants who command the Patrol, Investigations, Community Oriented Policing (COP), Auxiliary Services, and Administrative/Emergency Management Divisions. The Patrol Division is the largest division with officers separated into two platoons, each commanded by a Patrol Lieutenant. The Investigations Division has detectives conducting traditional investigative work, and detectives are assigned to a Special Investigations Unit that investigates vice crimes. The COP Division has officers in the Traffic Safety Unit that conduct accident investigations as well as officers in our COP Unit that deal with quality of life issues. The Auxiliary Services Division has our civilian support staff, including special officers, telecommunications, and school crossing guards. Upper Merion is the only remaining self-dispatched agency in Montgomery County. Finally, our Administrative/Emergency Management Division handles all aspects of accreditation for the police department and emergency management for the entire township.
The police department has a number of specialized units including the Bike Unit, K-9 Patrol, Drone Unit, and is an active member of both the Montgomery County Major Incident Response Team (MIRT), and the Montgomery Country SWAT Central Region Team (MSWAT-CR).
Emergency: 911
Non-Emergency Line: 610-265-3232
Anonymous Tip Line: 484-636-3888
Hours: 365/24/7
Records Window Hours: 9:00AM to 5:00PM
About the Department
Accreditation:
The Upper Merion Police Department received Accreditation from the Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission on July 20, 2004. For more information or questions regarding accreditation, please contact Lieutenant Blaine Leis at 610-205-8523 or bleis@umtownship.org.
Community Oriented Policing Division:
In 2018, the Police Department’s Community Response Unit and Traffic Safety Unit combined to include a Lieutenant, three community response officers and four traffic safety officers. This combination of resources and experience will help to build on our commitment to keeping residents and visitors safe while achieving and maintaining a superior quality of life within the community.
K-9 Patrol:
Our department has three officers and their canine partners assigned to this unit. Officer Glenn Muntzer and his partner Anna, Officer Andrew Moll and his partner Maddie, and Officer Nick Vuotto and his partner Kyzer are all trained in patrol work, tracking, and explosives detection. Learn more about the Police K-9 Unit.
Montgomery County Major Incident Response Team (MIRT):
Our department is an active member of this countywide team. This team consists of specially trained officers responsible for crowd / traffic control at large-scale events and emergency scenes throughout the county. These officers are also capable of responding to chemical / biological terrorist incidents.
Montgomery County SWAT Central Region Team (MSWAT-CR):
Our department is an active member of this regional team. This team is responsible for high-risk search / arrest warrants, hostage-taking situations, barricaded subjects, active shooters, and other incidents of a high-risk nature.
Applications and Permits
- Alarm Permit Application – Residential
- Alarm Permit Application – Business
- Alarm Permit Application – Business KOP Mall
- Block Party Form
- Car Seat Checks
- Lock For Life Program Application
- Residential Parking Permit
- Security Camera Registration
- Special Events Permit (Please allow up to four weeks for processing.)
- Temporary Parking Request Application
- Vacant Property Notification (Please allow one week for processing. If you provide less than one week notice, please drop off the form at the police station.)
- Vendor/Solicitor Application (Applicants must submit a $100.00 non-refundable payment due with the permit, which can be made in cash, check, or money order to “Upper Merion Township”. An FBI criminal background check from within 1 week must be included with your submission. Click here for information on how to obtain this.)
Police Policy Manual
The Upper Merion Police Department’s Administrative Manual and Field Manual, which together may be considered our Departmental Policy Manual, are living documents that are subject to constant change. Changes to laws, changes to accreditation standards, court decisions, new methodologies and other factors require the need for continual review. Revisions are made to Departmental Policy where necessary and appropriate. Our policies continue to meet the standards of The Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Accreditation Commission (PLEAC). This ensures that our policies are current and that we are committed to best practices.
It is recognized that no set of policies and procedures, no matter how complete, can hope to address all the situations that may be encountered. The Upper Merion Township Police Department’s Policy Manual serves as a guideline, and should be employed with sound reason, judgment and discretion.
Certain policies within our Departmental Policy Manual contain information on response tactics, staffing levels, deployment and other items which are considered to be law enforcement sensitive. Releasing such information could put both police officers and the general public at risk. Therefore, some policies have been redacted and others simply not-published.