PRINTER'S NO. 572
No. 523 Session of 2005
INTRODUCED BY FORCIER, ARGALL, ARMSTRONG, BAKER, BALDWIN,
BARRAR, BASTIAN, BEBKO-JONES, BELARDI, BELFANTI, BENNINGHOFF,
BOYD, BUXTON, CAPPELLI, CAUSER, CLYMER, CORRIGAN, COSTA,
CRAHALLA, CREIGHTON, CRUZ, DALEY, DALLY, DeLUCA, DeWEESE,
DONATUCCI, ELLIS, D. EVANS, FABRIZIO, FAIRCHILD, FLEAGLE,
FLICK, FRANKEL, GEIST, GEORGE, GERGELY, GINGRICH, GODSHALL,
GOOD, GOODMAN, GRUCELA, HARPER, HARRIS, HASAY, HERMAN,
HERSHEY, HESS, HICKERNELL, HUTCHINSON, JAMES, M. KELLER,
W. KELLER, KILLION, KIRKLAND, LEACH, LEDERER, LEH, LESCOVITZ,
LEVDANSKY, MAJOR, MANDERINO, MANN, MARKOSEK, MARSICO, McGILL,
McILHATTAN, MELIO, METCALFE, MILLARD, R. MILLER, S. MILLER,
MUSTIO, O'NEILL, PAYNE, PICKETT, PISTELLA, PYLE, REICHLEY,
ROHRER, ROSS, RUBLEY, SAINATO, SANTONI, SATHER, SAYLOR,
SCAVELLO, SCHRODER, SEMMEL, SHANER, B. SMITH, S. H. SMITH,
SOLOBAY, STABACK, STERN, R. STEVENSON, SURRA, E. Z. TAYLOR,
THOMAS, TIGUE, TURZAI, WANSACZ, WASHINGTON, WATSON, WILLIAMS,
WILT AND YOUNGBLOOD, FEBRUARY 15, 2005
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, FEBRUARY 15, 2005
AN ACT
1 Providing for the observance of the 100th anniversary of the
2 Pennsylvania State Police and for an annual day of
3 remembrance.
4 The General Assembly finds and declares that:
5 (1) Pennsylvania was changing from a largely
6 agricultural State to a complex industrial center in the late
7 1800s, and by 1900 violence was common in the new communities
8 that sprang up around the coal fields, iron mills, textile
9 factories and railroad yards, where the town constables,
10 sheriffs and similar local officials who had kept the peace
11 in more stable times were unable to cope with the new
1 populations and violent labor troubles.
2 (2) Coal and steel operators persuaded the General
3 Assembly to create the Coal and Iron Police to protect
4 private property, but persons hired by the operators served
5 their own interests by causing the violence and terror that
6 gave them office, and with the turmoil of the Great
7 Anthracite Strike in 1902 it was recognized that peace and
8 order should be maintained by regularly appointed and
9 responsible public officers.
10 (3) In 1905, Governor Samuel W. Pennypacker signed the
11 act of May 2, 1905 (P.L.361, No.227), creating the Department
12 of State Police as an executive department of the State
13 government, the first such uniformed police organization of
14 its kind in the United States and a model for state police
15 agencies throughout the nation.
16 (4) The original complement was limited by law to 288
17 men who patrolled the entire 45,000 square miles of this
18 Commonwealth on horseback, were under the leadership of
19 Captain John Groome, were paid $720 per year and were trained
20 in criminal, forestry and game laws, investigated murders,
21 rapes, burglaries, fraud, prostitution and gambling and
22 quarantined areas during outbreaks of rabies and typhoid.
23 (5) The Department of State Police rapidly proved its
24 worth and established a reputation for fairness, thoroughness
25 and honesty.
26 (6) Private John F. Henry, 31, and Private Francis A.
27 Zehringer, 34, were the first State Policemen shot and killed
28 in the line of duty on September 2, 1906, in Florence,
29 Jefferson County, during a raid on the home of a gangster.
30 (7) In 1919 the State Fire Marshal duties were
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1 transferred to the State Police, Troop E was established and
2 the State Police established motorcycle patrols to deal with
3 the growing number of motorists.
4 (8) In 1920 a State Police training school was
5 established in Newville, Cumberland County, and the Bureau of
6 Criminal Identification and the Bureau of Fire Protection
7 were created.
8 (9) The State Highway Patrol was created in 1923 within
9 the Department of Highways to enforce vehicle laws, the
10 nation's first statewide police radiotelegraph system was
11 installed and a new State Police training school was
12 established in Hershey, and would remain in service until
13 1960.
14 (10) In 1927 the first two State Highway Patrol Troops,
15 A and B, were established, and the first State Highway
16 Patrolman was killed in the line of duty.
17 (11) On June 29, 1937, the Highway Patrol and the State
18 Police were merged and the new department was called the
19 Pennsylvania Motor Police.
20 (12) The Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Motor Police
21 created the Executive Service Section on February 5, 1942,
22 and the act of April 28, 1943 (P.L.94, No.52) changed the
23 name of the organization from the Pennsylvania Motor Police
24 to the Pennsylvania State Police.
25 (13) Married men were finally permitted to apply for the
26 Pennsylvania State Police on October 1, 1963, before which
27 date only single men were allowed to enlist.
28 (14) The act of October 5, 1967 (P.L.321, No.140)
29 eliminated the two-year enlistment process and provided for
30 enlistment until discharge or retirement; an 18-month
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1 probationary period for Cadets and Troopers was established
2 in 1967.
3 (15) Troop S, activated on September 1, 1970, was
4 responsible for patrolling the Pennsylvania Interstate
5 System.
6 (16) The first female applicant was accepted as a Cadet
7 on October 1, 1971, and the Academy class containing the
8 first female Troopers graduated on July 27, 1972.
9 (17) A new Pennsylvania State Police Department
10 Headquarters building was dedicated on September 12, 1978.
11 (18) The department marked its 75th anniversary with a
12 celebration honoring persons killed in the line of duty and
13 the dedication of the State Police Memorial Wall inscribed
14 with the Pennsylvania State Police Call to Honor and the
15 names of those persons killed in the line of duty.
16 (19) On July 31, 1993, the Pennsylvania State Police
17 became the largest accredited police agency in the world.
18 (20) Today the Pennsylvania State Police employs 5,700
19 individuals, including 4,240 Troopers, and has an annual
20 budget of more than $714,000,000, a small fleet of aircraft,
21 crime labs, DNA testing facilities and other high-tech crime
22 fighting tools.
23 (21) To date, 90 Pennsylvania State Troopers have been
24 killed in the line of duty.
25 (22) While the Pennsylvania State Police has evolved and
26 experienced many changes over the last 100 years, one thing
27 has remained constant, the Pennsylvania State Police Call to
28 Honor:
29 I am a Pennsylvania State Trooper, a soldier of the
30 law. To me is entrusted the honor of the force. I
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1 must serve honestly, faithfully, and if need be, lay
2 down my life as others have done before me, rather
3 than swerve from the path of duty. It is my duty to
4 obey the law and to enforce it without any
5 consideration of class, color, creed or condition. It
6 is also my duty to be of service to anyone who may be
7 in danger or distress, and at all times so conduct
8 myself that the honor of the force may be upheld.
9 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
10 hereby enacts as follows:
11 Section 1. Designation of Pennsylvania State Police Day.
12 May 2 of each year is designated as Pennsylvania State Police
13 Day.
14 Section 2. Proclamation by Governor.
15 The Governor shall issue a proclamation every May 2, in
16 perpetuity, to commemorate the sacrifices and devotion to duty
17 of those who serve as officers in the Pennsylvania State Police
18 and in remembrance of those killed in the line of duty by
19 observing that day with appropriate honors and ceremonies.
20 Section 3. Effective date.
21 This act shall take effect immediately.
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