Elizabeth Township Police Department History

Established in 1788, Elizabeth Township Police Department serviced a large mining, and agricultural area, with a variety of residential properties spread throughout a roughly 23 square mile land area surrounded by the Youghiogheny and Monongahela Rivers, which is located in Allegheny County, Western PA. The early members of the agency focused on road safety patrol and responding to emergency calls for service related to traffic accidents and residential emergencies.

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As of 2022, the agency has grown and Elizabeth Township Police now serves the communities of Elizabeth Township and Forward Township, which is roughly a combined 51 square miles. The community has grown, and the population served by ETPD is roughly 16,000 residents with a variety of business, industry, recreational and residential properties. Outside of the hundreds of miles of roads patrolled, and thousands of residential properties, the ETPD are responsible for police services for 12.5 miles of the Greater Allegheny Passage Trail, which runs through portions of the Elizabeth Township. Both Townships have dozens of baseball, soccer, and playground complexes throughout, which have become a regular recreational spot for thousands of residents and non-residents during the spring and summer season. Elizabeth Township is also the site of Round Hill Park, which offers a live animal exhibit and a variety of picnic venues. In the community of Buena Vista, a public swimming pool, which allows residents and non-residents a way to cool off in the summer season. Each day, the ETPD team can find themselves serving a variety of these locations.

 

ETPD’s police services now includes a patrol team, a general and narcotics investigations team, police K9 teams, and a school resource officer team. In addition, ETPD partners with the regional South Hills Area Council of Governments (SHACOG) and has representatives assigned to Motor Carrier Enforcement, Intelligence, Mobile Field Force/Civil Disorder Squad, and Major Crash Reconstruction/Investigation. Lastly, the ETPD is a partner with the Regional Area Attorney General Narcotics Task Force.