Butler Twp. police chief marks 40 years on force
BUTLER TWP — Chief John Hays said his first day on the job as a patrolman with Butler Township Police was four decades ago, but it seems like just yesterday.
“It kind of flew by,” said Hays. “It doesn't seem like I've been here 40 years. I can remember my first day in 1979.”
Hays worked his way through the ranks of patrolman, sergeant, lieutenant and detective at Butler Township, first at the station on Whitestown Road in Lyndora under Chief Metro Polosky, then Joe Furka and, finally, Gary Garman before the latter retired in 2013. Hays replaced him as chief at the township building on South Duffy Road.
Hays recalls typing up police reports on a typewriter using a form with carbon paper between copies. A couple wrong keys meant yanking the form out and starting over.
“I pitied the people who had to read that second page,” Hays said of the messy carbon paper.
The number of full-time officers increased from 16 or 17 in 1979 to 21 today. Hays said he replaced officer Rudy Isovitch, who left the police department to start a construction company.
He recalled receiving a Microsoft Word disc from the district attorney's office that allowed officers to pull up a form and print it out, which was pretty high-tech.
Now, Hays said computers ride in the patrol cars with officers, who can write tickets in their cars instead of coming back to the station to type them up as in years past.
License plate readers on poles, video arraignments and other technological advances have also made the jobs of policemen more efficient.
“The technology is just crazy,” Hays said. “Everything is on the computer now, so it makes (paperwork) easier to do in a way because they're doing it a lot more often.”
He said the response to domestic violence reports are more frequent, as laws over the years have increasingly protected victims of domestic abuse.
“And there are a lot more drugs now, of course,” Hays said.
Lt. Matthew Pearson has worked with Hays the entire 29 years he has been an officer at the Butler Township Police Department. He and Hays served as detectives together for a decade.
“He's been a big influence on me in my position,” Pearson said. “He's basically been my mentor.”
Pearson worked as a patrolman before being promoted to detective after seven years.
“I had no prior experience as a detective, so he trained me,” he said. “Everything I know about detective work either came from him or training classes.”
Pearson said Hays' knowledge of the job, personality and leadership ability are the three things that make him a great chief.
“I'd like to see him put in many more years as long as he enjoys it and can do it,” Pearson said.
Hays said he doesn't know when his turn will come to retire.
“I keep saying, 'In a couple years,'” said the chief. “It'll turn up one of these days.”
The township supervisors presented Hays with a cake and commemorative plaque at their meeting on Monday night.
