About AVRPD
Our Mission
It is the mission of the AVRPD to protect and serve the communities of Springdale Township, Cheswick Borough, and East Deer Township, with a pledge to professionalism, compassion, and safety. The AVRPD is able to accomplish its mission because of the integrity of each of our individual officers.
Our Communities
Cheswick Borough – Cheswick is a small community of approximately 1,700 residents. Mostly a bedroom community, Cheswick calls itself a “Community of Homes”. However, the Borough does have a commercial district along Pittsburgh Street and a small industrial park.
Springdale Township – Springdale Township is a small community of about 1,600 residents. Also mostly residential, Springdale Township is geographically much larger than Cheswick, at about 2.4 square miles. Springdale is generally comprised of two sections; Orrville on the eastern side of the Township, and Harwick on the western side.
Both Cheswick and Springdale are part of the Allegheny Valley School District.
East Deer Township – East Deer Township is a small community of approximately 1,500 residents. East Deer is largely residential with a size of 2.6 square miles and shares a small border with Springdale Township. East Deer is part of the Deer Lakes School District.
Our History
The Allegheny Valley Regional Police Department was created by Cheswick Borough and Springdale Township in 2019 to address the increasing difficulties facing the provision of quality police services by small municipalities.
Springdale Township and Cheswick Borough began the process of creating a regional police department in early 2018, each having recognized the infeasibility of small municipalities to maintain separate departments. Although the concept of a regional police department for Cheswick, Springdale Township, and the surrounding municipalities had been considered many times in the past, including as far back as the early 1980s, all previous efforts to create a regional police force had been unsuccessful.
Having learned from the previous attempts, Cheswick and Springdale agreed to keep a regional police force initially small, with only the two communities. Recognizing that a regional police force would be a great success for the area residents, Cheswick and Springdale were confident that once the force was established, others may be interested in joining.
In March 2018, Cheswick Borough requested the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development perform a feasibility study for a merged police department, with Springdale Township following suit. The DCED performed its study during the summer of 2018, including reviewing the budgets and call-volume of the separate police departments of Springdale and Cheswick, and the needs of the communities, and presented its findings in October of 2018. The DCED strongly recommended the municipalities establish a regional department, calling it a “no brainer”.
After receiving and reviewing the DCED’s findings, Springdale and Cheswick began further discussions regarding a merger, and established the Allegheny Valley Regional Police Department Study Committee tasked with studying the DCED’s findings, developing a proposed Charter Agreement, Budget, and Implementation Plan, and presenting its results to the separate municipalities. The Study Committee completed its tasks and made its presentation to the Cheswick Borough Council and Springdale Township Board of Commissioners in March of 2019. The elected officials for both municipalities reviewed the Study Commission’s presentation, and voted in April of 2019 to create the Allegheny Valley Regional Police Department. The vote in Cheswick was unanimous, while the vote in Springdale Township was four in-favor, zero against, with one abstention.
After voting to create the AVRPD, Springdale Township appointed its first Commissioners to the AVRPD: Shirley Redman and Rich Schwartz, and Cheswick did the same with Kathleen Gillard and Michael Girardi. The four Commissioners held their first meeting on April 30, 2019 and elected Shirley Redman as Chairperson. Over the next two months, the Commission met frequently in May and June of 2019 to meet its goal of an initial start date of July 1, 2019. On June 27, 2019 the Commission adopted its initial budget, hired its initial police officers, appointed its first chief, Michael Naviglia, and completed all other tasks necessary for the AVRPD to begin operations on July 1.
The AVRPD was the first regional police department established in Allegheny County in 50 years.