The infant Upper Macungie Township Police Department was looking for a police chief, and Edgardo A. Colón, a former station commander of the Pennsylvania State Police Troop M, Fogelsville, was looking for a new position.

For both, it was the right match at the right time.

"It was a good timing thing," Colón said. "They were looking for someone to essentially build a police department from the ground up. I had been a commander of not only this barracks next door [in Fogelsville], I was a commander of a smaller state police installation in Bucks County.

"So I had some experience with the administration and the logistics and the operation generally of how a state police installation ran."

On Jan. 15, Colón and the department hosted the Upper Macungie Township Police Department dedication ceremony in front of their new office headquarters at 37 Grim Road, Breinigsville.

The building was built to better accommodate the new department, as a small sub-station for the now-disbanded Berks-Lehigh Regional Police Department was the only building in the area prior to the construction of their new home.

To arrive at this point, Colón had to go right to work after being chosen for the job as police chief by hiring a support staff to begin the growing process.

"One of the very first things I did when I was named as the police chief is I hired a management team," Colón said. "Two lieutenants, one to handle patrol division, and one to handle the crime and administration division, and I also hired an office manager.

"So the four of us have been building this police department since April of last year."

Those lieutenants are Patrol Division Commander Lt. Michael J. Sitoski and Crime and Administration Division Commander Lt. Joseph B. Wilson. Colón's office manager is Keri L. Diehl.

Wilson, like Colón, is a retired lieutenant from the Pa. State Police, whereas both Sitoski and Diehl served with Berks-Lehigh.

Sitoski served as the assistant chief, and Diehl was the branch's office manager.

"There was a good mix," Colón said. "There was two of us from the outside, two of us from the inside, so we were able to put our minds together and start building our own thing here."

The Upper Macungie Township Police Department serves only one township, whereas Berks-Lehigh Regional Police Department was also responsible for three additional municipalities in Berks County.

Including Colón and his management team, there are 28 police officers who were sworn in on Dec. 28, 2012, and two civilian staff that comprise the new department.

Colón expects big things from his officers and himself as the department continues to grow.

"My duties are to be the overall manager of this police department," Colón said.To oversee the operations, the criminal operations, the patrol operations, and the general administration operations.

"It's not just about police officers serving duty on the road and answering calls. That is a primary function of a police department, [but another] is interacting with the community, enforcing traffic laws, responding to calls, responding to the general needs of the public, [and] doing what they need to do to be public servants."

Colón's background of service is both varied and expansive, as he served in both the U.S. Marine Corps and Pa. State Police before taking the position with the Upper Macungie Department. His background is what shapes his form of leadership.

"I've always been interested in being as organized and efficient as we can be," Colón said. "We have policies for pretty much everything that we do.

"A police department also is a paramilitary organization, so a lot of that framework and structure comes from my experiences in the Pennsylvania State Police and in the United States Marine Corps.

"This isn't the Marine Corps, but there has to be a level of discipline that's employed as a police officer. I'm big into uniformity, I'm big into the officers looking sharp in uniforms, [and] I'm big into them treating the public in all situations the way they expect to be treated themselves."

Colón understands his crew will face the daily challenges to be expected of any local police department, but he is looking forward to serving the township alongside his new team.

"The name of the game is for us to make our best efforts to address all those things and be as proactive as we can. I want this police department to be creative in its enforcement efforts, I want it to be proactive, [and] I want it to be progressive," Colón said.

Although they still have a long way to go, Colón and his team are embracing the challenge of building a new police department from scratch.

"We're extremely busy, but it's still to this day an exciting venture. It's not everyday that you get to be part of building a police department from the ground up. We have the support of the community and the support of the township to give us the tools that we need to get things done and do things right," Colón said. "I'm confident that this community will be proud of the department that it has."