Slatington has a new police chief.

Borough Council this week appointed William Borst as chief. He was appointed acting chief in November when Greg Winokur resigned.

According to a right to know request, Borst will earn $48.45 an hour plus full benefits which include medical, dental, vision, prescription and a retirement plan.

Before serving as acting chief, Borst was a patrolman with Slatington for 12 years.

In 2020, Borst was one of the officers honored by LVHN for helping ambulance personnel to deliver a baby boy when the mother went into labor and was not able to make it to the hospital in time.

Councilman Ronald Kratz said, “We did this because he has done such an outstanding job for us since his start as acting chief.”

Borst graduated from the Allentown Police Academy (92nd Class) in 2013. I have served as a Field Training Officer as well as a department liaison for the Lehigh County Youth and Law Enforcement program.

“I would just like to say that I am thankful to the Slatington Borough Council for the opportunity to provide leadership to this department and I look forward to progressively moving the department forward,” Borst said. “I am excited to collaborate with the Slatington community in deterring crime and I am dedicated to ensuring the delivery of professional police service to our residents and visitors.”

During the meeting, Borst reported that the department received their order from Axon.

“The new eight body cameras have GPS, unlimited storage that can be downloaded while still on the officer,” he said.

“The six new Taser 7 tasers, are a great addition for the officers. They have been sharing just three of them which are out of date from 2015, there is no service or parts for them.”

He thanked Northern Lehigh School District for providing space for civil service testing.

“We had eight applicants, five passed the test,” Borst reported.

They will move on to the interview part next.

“We hope to have two new officers by April. This will be our best roster in 10 years.” Borst said.

He added that the department is looking into AI, which would watch the videos of calls and help write reports.

“(This) would free up officers to go back on the road faster,” Borst said.