After 42 Years, Brady Hanging Up His Holster

It was March 25, 1970. 

Richard Nixon was in the White House. Jimi Hendrix released his nine-minute rambling jam, "Machine Gun." Mail began to trickle back into mailboxes around the country as more than 50,000 postal workers ended a two-week strike. The government announced a plan to reduce troop level in Vietnam by 50 percent by the end of 1971.

And in a little town about 12 miles north of Philadelphia, Richard J. Brady, only recently having been discharged from the military himself, joined the . 

More than 42 years later, Chief Richard J. Brady will retire, having seen the police department he's led since 1982 almost quadruple in size as it entered the modern, technology-assisted era of law enforcement. 

Montgomery Township Board of Supervisors vice-chair Joseph Walsh called it a "historic event" as Brady attended his final meeting of the township's governing body Monday night.

Walsh said that under Brady's leadership, the township's police department had become "the gold standard" and was "well perceived throughout the county." 

In honor of Brady's service, the State Legislature last week approved Senate Bill 1551, which includes a provision to name the Route 202 Parkway bridge over Route 309 the "Chief Richard J. Brady Bridge."

The bridge will be dedicated in Brady's name on a date closer to Brady's October 1 retirement. In the meantime, Brady plans to use some of his accumulated vacation time to take a motorcycle trip to Nova Scotia with his wife.

“My officers have said they wanted to run over me every opportunity they had, so this will be their chance,” Brady joked.

Township notes

• Walsh ran the meeting in the absence of board chair Candyce Chimera, who was out of town visiting colleges with her son.
• Township resident Franklin Ha was sworn in as a member of the township's Fire Police.
• The Fire Department of Montgomery Township is joining a regional grant application for $117,252 in funds in order to replace 20 self-contained breathing apparatuses that are considered "obsolete" by Department of Homeland Security standards.
• An amendment to section 239 of the zoning code will be advertised. The new language will prevent the township from having to go before its own zoning board for government-related projects.
• Maillie Falconiero & Company, LLP presented a generally positive audit report of the township's 2011 finances to the board.