Saturday
September 7, 2024 
Solebury saluted its police force — past, present and future — before a crowd of 100-plus officers, their families and friends Tuesday night.
Highlights included District Judge Maggie Snow’s swearing in of the township’s new police chief, Kelley Warner of Buckingham, as well as its newest police officer — Ryan Roche, of Solebury — a recent graduate of the Montgomery County Community College Police Academy.
Police Chief Dominick Bellizzie, retiring after 18 years, presented plaques to the township’s 18 police officers, including K-9 Blitz (who was absent), and to recently promoted Detective Sgt. Jonathan Koretzky, who was also sworn in.
“Every time I screwed up the computer (Koretzky) fixed it for me,” Bellizzie grinned.
Chair Mark Baum-Baicker said Warner was a member of the Abington Township police force for 30 years, rising to the level of deputy chief before accepting the position of chief of the Harrison, Va., Police Department, where she commanded more than 100 uniformed officers. She has a master’s degree in criminal justice.
“Her permanent residence for the past 26 years has been Buckingham Township, so in addition to welcoming her as our new police chief, we also want to welcome her home,” he said.
Koretzky, Baum-Baicker said, has been with the township police department for more than 20 years, noting he is on the board of New Hope-Solebury Cares, a nonprofit group “dedicated to creating a safe and healthy community without negative effects of substance abuse among our young.”
And “for as long as anyone can remember, he has served as our in-house photojournalist,” he added.
In addition to honoring Solebury’s current police officers, a plaque was awarded to former 30-year township police Officer Kevin Edwards, who recently became the police chief for New Hope Borough. And, Baum-Baicker noted, he was also involved in rescuing an injured Solebury eagle years ago that was nursed back to health in a community effort.
In Solebury, where he served 11 years as sergeant and second-in-command, Edwards oversaw the process of department accreditation and maintenance of accreditation, according to Baum-Baicker. He also worked closely with the New Hope-Solebury School District in areas of security and safety, such as shooter training and evacuation drills, he added.
In honoring retiring Police Chief Bellizzie, Baum-Bicker said, he “truly made the Solebury police a twenty-first century department, achieving accreditation by the Police Chiefs Association in 2015.
“He diversified our police force, steered it through the pandemic and embraced community policing (and) developed a great relationship with the New Hope-Solebury School District.”
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