History of Sayre Police Department
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While the Sayre Police Department had its hands full with the pressures of policing its own, they also had to deal with the pressures of a constant influx of outsiders brought in by the railroad. As one reads the arrest logs of the times it can be seen that numerous arrests were of people traveling the trains. While some of the crimes noted were thefts from passengers and drunkenness while stopped at the railroad station, other problems came from those that did not ride the trains legitimately. These were the Hobos and Tramps of the day. It has been told that the Sayre Police Department would monitor the hobo camps along the Susquehanna River banks to keep the thefts of milk, cream and chickens from nearby houses to a minimum. Police log books show that once found guilty the local Burgess would give the hobo one hour to get out of town or a night in jail, then he had to leave town.

During the 1920's traffic enforcement in Sayre kicked into high gear. It is common knowledge that because of the amount of people working at the Lehigh Valley Railroad shops, that closing time was a traffic nightmare. This is why a Traffic Officer was posted at the base of the Packer Ave. Bridge at the intersection of Packer and Desmond St. to keep the flow of traffic running smoothly. Daily logs from the times show such offenses as "Driving to the left of Silent Cop", "Cutting off Silent Cop", and "Driving on the wrong side of Silent Cop". Other offenses noticed were "Driving while taking on passengers", "Discharging passengers between two cars", "Disorderly Conduct for trying to crank car while drunk", and other offenses that have stood the test of time, these being "Driving with no license", "Reckless Driving", and numerous equipment violations. It is assumed that the Police Department had a vehicle it used, at least part of the time and possibly a Motorcycle Patrol. This is assumed from such daily log entries as "Cutting off Silent Police car".

Moving into the 1930's the Police Department and Sayre Borough were not immune to political pressures and scandals. During the month of January 1931 the Sayre Borough Council, headed by Burgess Carling, made a motion for a change of personnel, which a council majority accepted. The ousted officers challenged the removal under a Borough Ordinance that stated only one officer can be appointed at a time. The officers were reinstated after a time, with several news articles showing that the appointees neither wanted the position or the fired officers challenged the positions. It has also been heard that the Council that took the jobs from the original officers, were ousted and replaced by a new Borough Council that gave the men their jobs back.

The 1940's saw the implementation of the civil service examination for new hires and yearly update classes keeping the officers up to date on the changing laws and new policing techniques. The 1940's also saw the hiring of future chief Ray Eldred who stated in an interview with a local newspaper, that at the time "they handed you a gun and a book of laws, and that was it". Eldred also stated the police vehicle of the time was a pick-up truck, which was why the police opted to hail a passing taxi-cab as it was "better than the cars we had".

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