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Politics & Government

Nazareth Adds One Part-Time Officer, Loses Another

Police chief says he'd prefer to hire full-time officers.

Ben Rizzotto became Nazareth’s newest when he was sworn in by Mayor Fred Daugherty before Monday night’s Police Committee meeting.

However, a second part-time officer hired by the borough has decided not to take the job.

Nazareth Police Chief Thomas Trachta told the committee that Justin Bickhardt told him that he preferred a full-time position.

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At last month's meeting, over the possibility of dissoving the department and contracting services from .

At Monday's meeting, however, Trachta told the committee that he would like to hire more full-time police officers.

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Trachta said the part-timers are "a step in the right direction" but the department would be better able to fill its schedule with full-timers. “I can control full-time officers,” he said.

 “I can tell a full-time officer to take off Friday and work Saturday,” he said, explaining that he has to be flexible with part-timers because many of them work for other police departments.

The department is down to two of its complement of .

The police chief also told council that if it takes 12 part-time officers to fill the shifts of six full-timers, the costs of equipping those 12 officers would be more expensive.

Trachta also said he wants to send officers to the Stockertown Rod and Gun Club for firearms training. The cost would be a $35 membership for each officer who uses the facility.

Committee Chairman Larry Stoudt told Trachta to bring his requests to the next workshop meeting.

Daugherty said the shortage of police officers was felt during last weekend’s "Nazareth Days" event when calls to the police department about a traffic tie-up were not returned.

Trachta explained that one full-time officer was busy booking an assault suspect at Northampton County Prison while another was responding to a report of a missing boy.

“Our response had to be prioritized,” Trachta explained.

Rizzotto is a 1996 graduate of and lives in the borough. He graduated from the Lackawanna College Police Academy and has been working as a part-time officer for since November 2010. He plans to work part time for both Upper Nazareth and the borough.

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