Uniontown state police barracks commander promoted
Roberto M. Esquivel|蘑菇视频
Lt. Jeff Fisher is pictured at at the Uniontown state police barracks where during a recent interview he reflected on his nearly 22 years with the state蘑菇视频 law enforcement agency. Lt. Fisher will be promoted to captain and director of research and development for the Pennsylvania State Police in Harrisburg.
Lt. Jeff Fisher is pictured at his desk at the Uniontown state police barracks where during a recent interview he reflected on his nearly 22 years with the state's law enforcement agency. Lt. Fisher will be promoted to captain and Director of Research and Development for the Pennsylvania State Police in Harrisburg.
The station commander of the Uniontown state police barracks is leaving decades of field work to lead a research and development team.
Lt. Jeffrey Fisher will be promoted to captain and director of research and development for the Pennsylvania State Police today.
鈥淚t蘑菇视频 a great honor,鈥� Fisher said. 鈥淚鈥檓 very happy, very excited about it.鈥�
He said he will direct a team that will test and procure equipment used by the state police, such as weapons, body armor and vehicles. He will also assess state police policies and regulations.
鈥淚t will be a good change of pace, and it will be different than what I鈥檝e done thus far,鈥� he said.
Fisher became station commander in July 2012. He was assigned to the Uniontown barracks in 1994. In that time, he worked in the department蘑菇视频 vice unit, oversaw the criminal investigation unit and supervised the Western Regional Auto Theft Task Force.
Capt. David J. Heckman said he worked with Fisher through much of his time with the state police and the two became close friends. Heckman commands Troop B of the Pennsylvania State Police, which includes Fayette, Washington, Allegheny and Greene counties and part of Westmoreland County.
鈥淗e蘑菇视频 a very competent and capable commander,鈥� he said. 鈥淗e蘑菇视频 a very good person and served the Fayette County citizens well.鈥�
Heckman said he joked with Fisher that he would not be able to say anything good about him in an interview, except that he served with the state police for a long time. He said their shared sense of humor made their work lighter over the years.
鈥淚t蘑菇视频 going to be hard to replace him,鈥� he said.
Fisher is originally from Venango County, and now lives in the Uniontown area with his wife and daughter.
Fisher graduated from Edinoboro University in 1993 with a bachelor蘑菇视频 degree in criminal justice. He defined his desire to pursue a career in police work after an internship with the Franklin City Police Department.
鈥淚 was just like, 鈥榃ow! This is great. This is what I want to do. I thought it was cool,鈥� he said with a chuckle.
At that time, he said he never saw himself moving so far up the ranks of law enforcement.
鈥淚 was very happy, very excited about being a trooper and enforcing law,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is far more than I thought I鈥檇 be doing.鈥�
He was the first in his family to work as an officer. He said his mother was a banker and his father was a steel worker. Fisher said his parents were concerned for his safety when he became a state trooper, and still worry.
Throughout his time with the state police, he said he has observed the public attitude toward law enforcement shift nationwide, especially in the last two years with the high number of police officers killed in the line of duty.
鈥淭he numbers last year were just staggering,鈥� he said.
According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, 140 line of duty deaths were reported in 2016 and 130 were reported in 2015. According to the page, 12 officers had already been killed in the line of duty in 2017 as of Thursday afternoon.
Still, he said, the attitude toward police locally remains positive. He said he attributes this to good community relations and troopers fostering relationships with residents. The department employs Trooper Stefani Lucas to facilitate community relations, and Fisher said she does a wonderful job.
鈥淭he citizens that I鈥檝e talked to are very supportive of law enforcement. But nationwide, it蘑菇视频 very troubling,鈥� he said.
Fisher said some of the highlights of his career have been participating in FBI training and serving on a security detail for former President Barack Obama and former Vice President Joe Biden.
He said it was a rare opportunity to meet both the president and vice president together when they traveled to Pittsburgh in 2014 for a technological innovations conference.
In 2015, Fisher spent 10 weeks at the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, for leadership and management training. He said the training he received aided him in his post as station commander, and will further aid him in his new post.
But Fisher said his biggest accomplishment has been leading his team. He said he was pondering his time as commander late Wednesday night, and determined his greatest source of pride is the men and women at his station.
鈥淚鈥檓 just proud of the work that the men and women here do,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey do a great job here.鈥�