QUAKERTOWN POLICE CHIEF CONTROLS HIS OWN LITTLE KINGDOM
The Free Press July 24, 2003

“Calling all cars...911...Emergency in Quakertown!!! Richland officers stay away!!!”
Can you imagine? Quakertown’s police chief actually told Richland Township that Richland officers may NOT assist their Q-Town brethren without a personal invitation. Even if it means response time is delayed. How does that make you feel, borough citizen? In a crisis, does it matter what uniform the cop is wearing?
Apparently it matters a great deal to Quakertown Chief James McFadden. King James is in a snit because Richland officers assisted in apprehending burglars in the borough on two occasions in June. And - get this - he accuses the officers, who risked their lives to help, of being “nosey”!!!
The rest of Bucks County feels quite differently. In May, Richland patrolmen Matt Lawhead and Matt Mergen joined Perkasie officers in hunting down two armed bank robbers. Perkasie Police Chief Paul Dickinson wrote a letter of thanks to Richland, saying “I have always believed that the greatest strength enjoyed by law enforcement in Bucks County is that we can always count upon each other for assistance”. Dickinson later said privately that he has no recollection of Quakertown ever providing such assistance (although they have worked together on grants).
Last year, Mergen and Mike Kisthardt assisted in subduing a man who had fired at a Springfield officer. Kisthardt and Mergen were named Officers of the Year by the Bucks County Police Association. I have your nosey right here, King.
This is the story of a chief who craves control. A man who puts personal power above public safety, ignoring pleas from police, district attorneys, and other municipalities. Chief McFadden is notorious for non-cooperation. His policies seem to hinder area law enforcement rather than help. And Quakertown Borough Council has done nothing.
Quakertown is the only police force in all of Upper Bucks that is not part of the county Mutual Aid Agreement. McFadden steadfastly refuses to allow his patrolmen to provide assistance to other departments in need. All other communities provide backup FOR Quakertown, and for each other, but Q-Town officers are the only ones who can not help their neighbors. By contrast, Richland has assisted Quakertown 174 times in four years.
In fact, Q-Town doesn’t even respond to calls INSIDE it’s own borough from other departments. Last Wednesday a Richland officer was almost struck by a car on Route 309 in Quakertown. The driver tested over the legal alcohol limit, and Bucks County dispatch twice asked Quakertown to send an officer. Both calls were ignored.
Consider Chief McFadden’s policy on pursuing a suspect once he leaves the borough. Put simply - don’t. Officers may not leave the town limits. If someone robs a store and flees the borough (a matter of perhaps less than a minute by car, since Quakertown is completely surrounded by Richland), Q-Town officers may not follow, though the law clearly allows such “hot pursuit”. Again, Quakertown is the only department to have this rule. If you are looking to commit a crime, try here. They won’t chase you far.
Remember the incident several years ago when local teens were found “huffing” behind Bonton? A Channel 69 TV videotape shows that McFadden knew about it months before the story broke, but never told Richland.
How about the horrible case of the men who mutilated the cats. The crime was committed in Richland, and the investigation opened there. A witness mistakenly went to the Quakertown police, but instead of sending him to Richland, McFadden began his own investigation, and didn’t share it for weeks. He compromised key evidence by personally ordering that the suspects’ car be stored in a non-secure building rather than taken to the State Police testing facility. And he even threatened to arrest Richland’s late Chief, Stu Woods, when Woods objected to the improper procedure.
In fact, McFadden might have been able to prevent the deaths of those cats. The night it happened, his officers were pursuing the cat killers for reckless driving, but let the car go once it reached the borough line. Had they continued and made the arrest, the cats might be alive today.
Also, Quakertown officers are not permitted to go to court to prosecute the arrests they make without McFadden’s personal approval, which he does not always give. No other force has such a policy. Frustrated district attorneys can lose cases. Officers who risk their lives to arrest suspects can only watch them go free. Until recently, McFadden refused to participate in school anti-drug programs. In fact, Stu Woods died just after leaving a DARE program at St. Isidore’s in the borough, a presentation that McFadden had turned down.
And, perhaps worst of all, Quakertown officers are the least equipped force in the area. They have two choices in dealing with a suspect/perpetrator - use their hands or use their guns. Win a bare-hand physical confrontation, or shoot the guy. All other police have a range of in-between weapons such as pepper spray, a baton, and beanbag shotgun rounds which stun. McFadden even took the shotguns out of all patrol cars. What kind of chief DISARMS his men? You can imagine what this does to morale.

Why has Borough Council permitted King James to treat Quakertown as his own private kingdom? Frankly, because he has them scared. When he was hired in 1983, he talked the Council into making the job civil service. It’s much harder to fire him that way. Council tried to discipline him in 1995 for secretly holding a second job, and the civil service commission agreed. But McFadden then sued the borough, and Judge Biehn, a former local attorney, reversed the ruling. Council doesn’t want another fight, so they ignore the problems.
And the lack of cooperation goes even beyond departmental policy, to personal issues. Pop Werner was a Quakertown police officer for 30 years, beloved by his fellows, but McFadden decreed that Quakertown officers could not go to his funeral in uniform, serve as honor guard, or use a patrol car in the ceremonial procession. Pop’s widow, Borough Councilwoman Elfriede Werner, sought Stu Woods’ help. Woods contacted the Fraternal Order of Police, who in turn called Borough Manager David Woglom. McFadden then relented, but did not attend himself.
Three thousand mourners crowded Woods’ own funeral, including police from dozens of forces. Guess which chief was missing. Q-Town officers came in civilian clothes. And, last year, Sergeant Dean Niemenski, a McFadden supporter, retired from Quakertown after 25 years of service. Most forces have a ceremony, a party, and a retirement gift for such men. McFadden didn’t as much as issue a press release acknowledging the man’s dedication to the citizens of the borough.
But the day of reckoning is coming. Soon. The borough owns a large tract of land located in Richland, part of the old Krupp foundry. Q-Town is seeking a zoning change so they can sell the land to a developer. One of the conditions Richland has placed on the zoning change is that Quakertown sign the Mutual Aid pact. AND REQUIRE McFADDEN TO HONOR IT. Ironic, but fitting, that it will take the government of ANOTHER municipality to finally force King James to cooperate.