Council Approves Hiring of Two Part-Time Officers

Ben Rizzotto and Justin Bickhardt will be joining Nazareth’s police department on a part-time basis, although they will have to wait for the mayor to return from vacation to be officially sworn in.

Rizzotto, who was at Borough Council's meeting Monday night, is a 1996 graduate of and currently resides in the borough.

Rizzotto said he graduated about a year ago from the Lackawanna College Police Academy and has been working as a part-time officer for Upper Nazareth Township since November 2010.

The former electrician says he plans to work part time for both Upper Nazareth and the borough.

Council members voted unanimously -- without discussion -- to hire the two officers. There was also no talk from council members or members of the public regarding the possible disbanding of Nazareth's police department.

The decision to bring Rizzotto and Eckhardt on board comes on the heels of a June 25 incident that . Officer Stephen Schleig is currently collecting workers' compensation due to a shoulder injury.

Council members also unanimously approved a motion to allow five borough officers to attend an "Active Shooting" training session at at a cost of $75 per officer. Upper Nazareth's police department is holding the session.

According to the council’s monthly police report for June 1 to 30, there were:

• 47 crimes reported and investigated
• 17 follow-up investigations
• 17 criminal arrests
• 3 traffic tickets
• 14 traffic accidents, including one reportable accident and 13 non-reportable accidents

Of those 47 reported and investigated crimes, there were:

• 4 for assault
• 2 for burglary
• 6 for larceny theft
• 1 for fraud
• 10 for vandalism
• 1 for a drug-abuse violation
• 4 for drunkenness
• 13 for disorderly conduct
• 6 “other” offenses

Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story had the last name of one of the two part-time officers spelled wrong. The story previously said, "Justin Eckhardt," which was the name printed on Nazareth Borough Council's agenda, but his name is, in fact, "Justin Bickhardt."