Credit: Upper Dublin Police Department.
April 25 marked the end of an era in Upper Dublin Township.
Officer Robert Taylor, who joined the Upper Dublin Police Department in June 2001, celebrated his final day with UDPD, closing out 24 years of honorable service, and a lasting impact on the department and the community he has faithfully protected and served.
Members of the Upper Dublin Police Department, other Township officials, and several members from surrounding police departments, including Lower Gwynedd, Springfield, Abington and Cheltenham, all attended his final farewell with a celebration.
“There was a lot of people from the Township Administration that came over to visit, and also our Public Works Department,” said Upper Dublin Police Chief Francis Wheatley. “This is a large turnout of people who obviously respect Rob and appreciate all the work he's done serving the Upper Dublin community and serving our residents.
“He comes from a military background before he got here,” added Wheatley, “so he’s well respected within not just our community here with the Upper Dublin Police, but with our surrounding departments as well. He's had so many roles over his career.”
In addition to his regular patrol duties, Officer Taylor was part of the department’s Bike Unit, he was a certified Physical Fitness Instructor and he was a member of the Montgomery County SWAT-East Region team as an Operator and a Negotiator.
Officer Taylor was also a D.A.R.E. instructor. He was also assigned as the Community Response Officer (CRO) for his squad, and also worked as the department’s liaison with the Bridge Program, which provides support services and outreach referrals for mental health services.
“He has a very calm nature, and he has excellent communication skills,” said Chief Wheatley. “He has the ability to settle situations down. He's very successful as a negotiator and he's done so many programs in our committee outreach.”
Officer Taylor also assisted with mental health programs in Abington.
“He was just loved by the community and he was just very approachable,” Chief Wheatley said. He had this demeanor that people were very comfortable talking to him.”
