Lower Gwynedd Police Chief John Scholly has been a police officer for 38 years. Scholly spent 30 years in Cheltenham Township and retired from the township’s police department as Police Chief. His “second career” is as police chief at Lower Gwynedd Township, where he has been for seven years.

Scholly began at Cheltenham Police Department right out of high school and went to Montgomery County Community College part-time, and earned his bachelor's of science in criminal justice from Temple, attending part-time there, as well.

While at Cheltenham Police Department, he began as a patrol officer and worked his way up through the ranks as patrol sergeant, lieutenant in auxiliary services and lieutenant in detective services and then made chief of the department.

While chief at Lower Gwynedd, Scholly has started the Child Identification Program, in which the police go out to events and take photos, fingerprints and a video of the child speaking and give it all to the parents. The parents are also given a kit to take a DNA sample of the child. This kit helps the police and news outlets if anything happens to the child photos, fingerprints, DNA and a video of the child are on record with the parents.

It is free to the parents and is easy for the parents or the police departments to update as children grow.

Scholly added that the police department has tried to be more active overall and more interactive in the community.

The police department has been trying to get the message out to be aware of one's surroundings at all times. He said residents need to be aware of what’s going on in their neighborhoods, as well as  a warning to all about identity theft, a rising problem in Lower Gwynedd Township.

Scholly said policing has changed over the years, from bank robberies to identity theft.

“That’s what’s happening in the police world right now,” he added.

Of Lower Gwynedd Township, he said that the biggest issue is traffic, with nearly 80,000 cars trying to pass through the streets, as well as people speeding through neighborhoods avoiding the traffic on the main arteries.

He added that, with a small department, some days he has to go back to his roots. On busy days, when all other officers are on other calls, he might be on the streets directing traffic around an accident or other duties.

“Its kind of neat to get out…once in a while,” he said.

“It’s a wonderful place to work,” he said of Lower Gwynedd and the Police Department.

Scholly is also a volunteer on the Board of Directors Glenside Fire Company, where his nephew, brother and son are active firefighters.

Scholly remembered back to one of his favorite times as a police officer, when in 1989 President George H. Bush spoke at the commencement for Cheltenham High School while Scholly was a sergeant with the Civil Affairs Unit. As part of his duties included dignitary protection and for this event, he was the liaison with the Secret Service and was behind the scenes during the event.

The President arrived in Marine One, and Scholly was standing with the Secret Service when the President stepped out of the helicopter at the high school.

“It was the most fascinating thing … I’ll always remember it,” he said.

He also was on duty when First Lady, Hillary Clinton and Al Gore came to Cheltenham High School.