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Public Safety

POLICE DEPARTMENT

Police protection is one of the basic municipal functions.  Maintenance of law and order is essential in our complex urban society.  Police Chief Doug Kish supervises a staff of seven full time and on average 12 part time officers.  They provide round the clock police protection with 2 men on duty per shift.
The department not only provides vehicle patrol, we also have a group of officers who patrol on bicycle. While they originally were assigned to patrol the parks, they now can be seen throughout the Borough.

While the Public Safety Committee of Council provides general guidance and control, the Mayor oversees the daily operation of the department.

FIRE DEPARTMENT

The Catasauqua Fire Department is an all volunteer organization. Since 1845, our members have been serving the Borough of Catasauqua with fire protection. Richard Hertzog, Jr. is the current Fire Chief. Over the years the department’s mission has expanded to provide not only fire protection, but also includes heavy rescue, fire police for traffic and crowd control, hazardous materials spill control, search, emergency medical service assistance, police and public works assistance.

The fire department is Pennsylvania State Certified, and our members continue to train and advance our expertise in the many disciplines of emergency services. The department has developed a continuous fire prevention and education program. The members also test and service the fire hydrants in the Borough. The department is active within the community, supporting the various functions and organizations of the Borough and its citizens.

Our goal is to provide the best modern, technical emergency service available at an affordable cost. In 2007 the department responded to 271 alarms, of which 109 were for mutual aid with other departments.

Our motto is “PROUD HISTORY – CHALLENGING FUTURE SINCE 1845”

EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT 

This department is involved with preparing to deal with, notifying the public of, and planning for recovery from manmade and natural “disasters”. The Borough’s Emergency Management Coordinator, Joe Carl, and his team work to ensure that whatever may occur we are prepared to handle it, or at least know who to contact to assist us. For non-emergency situations email the Emergency Management Office at
In addition to situations that occur in the Borough proper we also receive national and weather related bulletins.