New Kensington's Bob Deringer eager to accept challenges as city's new police chief

Acting New Kensington police Chief Bob Deringer is settling into his new role as head of the city's police force and focusing on the many challenges the department faces.

The most obvious is staffing.

The department is considered to be fully staffed at 23 officers, but it is down four positions.

Preceding the fatal shooting of Officer Brian Shaw in November was word of then-Chief Jim Klein's retirement. Those losses — paired with a third officer taking a job elsewhere and a fourth out for convalescence — have stretched the city's already busy police force.

And a few more officers soon will be eligible for retirement.

“My priority is to hire some guys, get us up to at least where we can properly patrol the streets, give the citizens of New Kensington the protection they deserve,” Deringer said.

Deringer, a 28-year department veteran who most recently was a detective, became acting chief Dec. 22.

If anyone is up to the job, it's Deringer, said the police chief in neighboring Lower Burrell, Tim Weitzel.

Weitzel said he has known Deringer, 52, for decades. When he heard who would fill Klein's shoes, Weitzel said, he knew New Kensington was in good hands.

“I've known Bob Deringer since the day I started as a police officer, so that's got to be more than 20 years ago. When I learned from (Mayor Tom Guzzo) that he was going to be the new chief, I knew that was a good day for the city of New Kensington,” he said.

According to Weitzel, Deringer has what it takes to run one of Westmoreland County's busiest departments.

“(Deringer) is an excellent officer,” Weitzel said. “He has the respect of his fellow officers, and I think he will do an excellent job for the city.”

Guzzo said Deringer is a lifelong resident of New Kensington and one of the most experienced officers in the department, with almost three decades of police experience.

“Obviously, he's got a lot to learn, but we're very confident in his ability to lead the department,” Guzzo said.

After Klein officially is retired, which may not be until as late as June, Deringer will fill the chief's position permanently.

Deringer is a 1984 graduate of Valley High School in New Kensington. He started work with the department after graduating from Indiana University of Pennsylvania's police academy in 1989.

He worked for more than a decade as a patrolman before receiving promotions to patrol sergeant and detective.

The acting chief also has filled “essentially every position” on the city's elite Critical Response Team, including commander.

Deringer said the city still faces the problems it has since he started: violent crime, burglaries, retail theft, auto theft and drugs. He also is familiar with the problems that coincide with those crimes.

“When I first started here, the downtown area ... it was really hairy down here,” he said. “They used to tell us not to come down here on calls by yourself.

“We had bricks thrown through police car windows. We had a couple riots where we had to call everyone from the other side of the river to come over and help.”

Things have changed, though, according to Deringer. The crime hasn't gone away; it's just dispersed, he said.

“A lot of that's been taken care of; it's not as concentrated in one area. It seems to have spread throughout the city, instead of being concentrated in one bad area,” he said. “We were always told (to) hit that area really hard, and we did.

“But now, it's kind of been like you smash a piece of cake and it just splatters everywhere. It's all over the place, so it's a little more difficult to keep tabs on it.”

Klein has said that from 2012 to 2016, rates of nearly every type of crime have dropped in the city.

Robberies were down in that period by about 11 percent, while assaults were down 39 percent. Burglaries dropped by 41 percent, theft is down 11 percent and auto theft is down 42 percent.

Deringer said problems don't tend to come from New Kensington and the people who live there.

Drugs, especially opioids, have been a problem in the city, but Deringer said the drugs and those who peddle them come from places such as Michigan, Ohio and other parts of Pennsylvania.

“Almost everything is routed from the drugs, which are very difficult to control,” he said. “Drug investigations take a lot to get to the point where you can act on them. For every person you arrest, three more pop up.”

Regardless of the difficulties facing the city, Deringer said he won't back down from the challenge.

“I look forward to doing my best to improve the city of New Ken,” he said. “This isn't just going to be a job for me — I've lived here my whole life.”

Klein, who joined the department in 1992, accepted a new job with health giant UPMC the day before Shaw was killed. Klein, who will serve as a captain on the UPMC police force, couldn't be reached for comment for this story.

Matthew Medsger and Madasyn Czebiniak are Tribune-Review staff writers. Reach Medsger at 724-226-4675, mmedsger@tribweb.com or via Twitter @matthew_medsger. Reach Czebiniak at 724-226-4702, mczebiniak@tribweb.com or via Twitter @maddyczebstrib.