Scotch Plains Police Department
For Emergencies dial 9-1-1, and you will be connected to the nearest Police Dispatch center from where you are calling; if you are calling from a cell phone, let dispatch know so they can re-bid the call to help in getting the GPS location of where you are calling from.
For all non-emergency calls, you can contact the Dispatch center at (908) 322-7100 x0 and they can direct your call to the proper division.
The main number for the Scotch Plains Police Department is (908) 322-7100, you can use the automated program to be directed to a particular Division/Bureau, go through Dispatch at x0 or you can look for the extensions which are listed on each Divisions page.
The story of the Scotch Plains Police Department started in 1868 when the Scotch Plains Mutual Theft Detecting Society was formed.
The 'Society' was established to combat theft in the growing community. The members were empowered to arrest any person they would find stealing and to bring them to the Magistrate to be "dealt with in accordance to the Law". The Scotch Plains Police Department was officially formed on July 20th, 1900, with the swearing in of a Chief and two sworn officers.
The early years of our department revolved around busting illegal stills and chicken thievery. The first established municipal building was built in 1920. It stood in the parking lot of the current municipal building. The old Police Headquarters housed not only the Police Department but also the Fire Department and in 1937, the newly formed First Aid Squad Ambulance. As the years went by and the population grew, the Police Department grew from the original three officers to eight in 1933, then to twelve in 1954, twenty-one in 1962, to our current staffing of forty-nine sworn officers that we have today. Our department has been on the cutting edge of technology since the early Patrol cars of the 1950's to the modern cars of today.
The Scotch Plains Police Department has quickly expanded from a three man department in a largely agricultural community to a modern Department serving a very busy, residential township. Currently we have forty-nine officers, broken down into the Patrol, Investigative and Support Services Divisions that serve over 24,000 people. Throughout the long history of the Scotch Plains Police Department, we have had only one, in the line of duty deaths. In 1921, our Chief, Florence O'Sullivan, lost control of his motorcycle and was killed. While the times have changed dramatically, we still serve the community in much of the same ways as we did all those years ago.