Cheltenham’s new police chief is a longtime crisis negotiator and played a key role in the Bill Cosby case
Cheltenham's new chief is a community policing advocate who led one of the township's most famous criminal investigations.
Cheltenham’s new police chief is a longtime crisis negotiator who led one of the township’s most famous criminal investigations.
Richard Schaffer will be sworn in as Cheltenham’s new police chief next week to replace John Slavin, who is retiring after 37 years with the department. The salary range for the new chief was listed as $180,000 to $195,000 in the township’s job posting.
Schaffer has led a variety of community policing efforts in his 26 years at Cheltenham, spending more than two decades as a crisis negotiator and heading the township’s gun violence task force.
In 2024, he embedded a county mental health worker into the police department to assist in cases with behavioral health concerns.
Schaffer, who holds a master’s degree in criminal justice from St. Joseph’s University, made the case for community policing in a speech at a school board meeting this week.
The new chief takes the reins at a tumultuous time for Cheltenham School District, which has faced a range of safety concerns in recent years — most notably two alleged assaults in a high school locker room last year that led to criminal charges for four football coaches and six players.
“We have not lived up to our shared ideals. We must acknowledge the victims from recent cases, and we must promise to do things better not only for them but for future students,” Schaffer said.
“I would urge parents and the board to commit to a greater partnership with the police department.”
Some Cheltenham residents have advocated for removing a physical police presence from schools in recent years.
Schaffer pledged at the meeting to “push back on some of those who sought to drive the police from the schools.”
“Police interacting with students, faculty, and staff is a good thing,” Schaffer said. “We want to be proactive by leveraging information and our relationships to get ahead of problems.”
District spokesperson Kevin Kaufman did not answer questions Friday about the current status of security programs at Cheltenham schools.
Schaffer also led the 2005 investigation into allegations that Bill Cosby drugged and assaulted Andrea Constand at his Cheltenham home.
Although the Montgomery County district attorney declined to press charges at the time, the case was reopened in 2015, and Schaffer was eventually called to testify.
He testified in 2018 that he had believed Constand’s allegations at the time, and still did.
Cosby’s conviction was overturned in 2021 on procedural grounds.
Inquirer Greater Abington
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
