Police

State College Police Department History

The Borough of State College was incorporated on August 29, 1896. The "first officer of law" was High Constable George W Taylor, in 1896. Taylor was followed by Thomas McMahan in 1899 (Hench, 1948).

First Full-Time Officer Hired

The first uniformed full-time police officer was hired in 1916. Robert Mingle served the Borough from 1916 until 1925, marking the creation of the State College Police Department (Hench, 1948). Mingle was paid $60 a month and averaged walking 30 to 35 miles a day patrolling the Borough. He resigned in 1925 making $125 a month (Chesworth, 1995).

Growing the Department

Albert E Yougel followed Mingle serving from 1925 to 1937. Yougel acquired the title "Chief", upon the hiring of a second officer in 1935 (Hench, 1948). Yougel used a Ford coupe to patrol the Borough. The Ford was replaced by an Indian motorcycle and later a Harley-Davidson. By 1955, the department had grown to 8 officers and a chief.

By the summer of 2021, the department had grown to 60 sworn officers, 73% with college degrees, 27% veterans, 18% female, 7% persons of color.

Services

Currently, the State College Police Department (SCPD) provides police services to the nearly 50,000 residents of the Borough of State College and neighboring College and Harris Townships. Those townships each had their own police departments until they began contracting for police services with the Borough, which absorbed those officers into SCPD. Pennsylvania State University adds to the area population with over 44,000 students. Currently, 55 sworn officers are employed in the Department, in addition to a non-uniformed complement of 11 employees. The department has over 18 patrol vehicles, 3 Harley-Davidson motorcycles, 7 police bicycles, and 13 additional support and administrative vehicles.

Divisions

The Department is broken into three divisions: Patrol, Detective, and Community Relations/Professional Standards. The Patrol Division Commander oversees four platoons (shifts) providing 24-hour coverage and response to our community. In addition, this division is responsible for special event planning, warrant service, and property/evidence management through our Traffic/Warrant/Evidence section. The Detective Division Commander is responsible for overseeing our criminal investigations and records sections. The Community Relations/Professional Standards supervisor oversees accreditation, community relations, media relations, policy/rules /regulations management and school resource officer program.

Chiefs for the State College Police Department

View a list of Chiefs for the State College Police Department:

Robert Mingle: 1916 to 1925
Albert E Yougel: 1925 to 1936
Martin L. Kaufmann: 1936 to 1939
John J. Juba: 1939 to 1970
Herbert Wm. Straley, Jr.: 1970 to 1973
Elwood G. Williams, Jr.: 1974 to 1993
Thomas R. King: 1993 to 2016
John F. Gardner: 2016 to 2025
Joseph Merrill: 2026 to present

References

Chesworth, J. (1995) Story of the Century. State College, Pennsylvania: The Borough of State College, Pennsylvania and The Barash Group
Hench, V. D. (1948) The History of State College, 1896-1946. Centre Daily Times Publications