As a kid, Michael Chitwood never doubted what he wanted to be when he grew up. Standing on the corner as a crossing safety, with a police officer by his side, he looked up and decided. Over half a century later, Michael Chitwood will soon have five years under his police belt as Upper Darby Superintendent of Police, part of a 46-year career in law enforcement that started as a Philadelphia police officer. “It’s all I wanted to do,” Chitwood said in his Upper Darby office, on the heels of February’s last snowstorm. “I had to wait until I was twenty to take the police test, and took a lot of jobs until then, including milk home deliveryman, construction, working at Oscar Meyer, to mention a few. Wasting no time after turning twenty he took the police test ASAP! Rising through the ranks over nearly twenty years on the Philadelphia force, Chitwood became police chief of Middletown Township, Bucks County and later moved north to become the police chief of Portland, Maine for 17 years. In 2005 he was glad to be back to become Police Chief of Delaware County’s largest municipality. “I grew up in this area,” he said with a smile. “When I started out 46 years ago in Philly, Upper Darby was a suburb. We’d come here to relax and socialize.” Now it’s a lot different; it’s basically the same as West Philly. “I call it the 13th District, since we border their 12th District”. Nonetheless, Chitwood is a huge supporter of the community, “In Upper Darby there are 70 languages spoken!” he says with a sense of surprise and pride. “When I left, there were, two?”

His business-like demeanor in fighting crime belies a wry sense of humor. “In Portland I had a fourth floor office that overlooked Casco Bay. Here, I see West Chester Pike,” he chuckled. Chitwood is described as a very aggressive crime fighter, by both his supporters and detractors, considered a “media hog” by his detractors while many supporters consider that a compliment. Chitwood sees fighting crime differently: It’s not just a police function; it’s also a community function. “I describe my style as collaborative, progressive, participative, and high profile,” he said. “Everyone’s involved in a collaborative and participative way, from patrol officer on up to people in and across the community. Everybody has to be involved to provide the quality of life we want. There has to be a buy in! We can’t do it ourselves” Without this progressive approach; you can’t have an informed community that wants to help. “We are high profile because the community wants to know what we’re doing. When we have a drug bust at a house, where drug people are ruining the block, the neighborhood, we go in with lights flashing. We want the community to know what we’re doing, there hasn’t been a time when we took the drug dealers out of a house that the neighbors haven’t applauded our efforts.”

Chitwood’s aggressive anti-drug policy has formed from his years of police experience; he’s still often part of the drug-busting forces. As views on marijuana change for some, his experience tells him it’s still the gateway drug of choice and he’s against decriminalizing marijuana for personal use. “I’ve interviewed over 500 people over the years as they come in on drug charges—heroine, cocaine, hard drugs—and all of them said they started with marijuana. While not everyone is going to turn into an addict, it’s still the gateway. No one ever starts with heroine.” He admits, though, his view has changed regarding medical marijuana. “In Portland, the issue of medical marijuana came up, and 8 years ago I was against it.” Today, with all the medical research, he understands it better and doesn’t have a problem with it. “I can see Pennsylvania approving medical marijuana use in the near future.” And if he could change three things about society, what would he choose? First, “We have to focus on the victims, their rights, and not the rights of violent predators. We have to keep criminals off the street. If someone is sentenced to ten, twenty years, they should serve it, not 6 months. People say ‘We don’t have room in the prisons.’ Well, find a way to make room. Five percent of society shouldn’t dictate how the other 95 percent live.” “Next up are education, and the educational system. We don’t have enough funding for education. We’re not instilling a love of learning in our kids. Without education, without learning, you have a society that doesn’t advance, that lives in poverty. That leads to problems”. Finally is family structure. “When I started 46 years ago, and we had to go into a house, there was no family structure. Forty-six years later, things haven’t changed. Where is the discipline? Where is the father?” “The lack of family structure and education leads to desperation and contributes to the crime problem”, he noted.

Forty-six years fighting crime could harden a man, but this isn’t the case with Chitwood. He admits he was hardheaded when he started out, but he watched and learned from older officers. At 66, he’s now the oldest on the force, and he mentors younger officers and kids in the community. “I’ve learned to treat everyone with respect, that how you talk to people makes a difference. I wasn’t always like that. In my younger days I reacted differently and I learned from my mistakes. I talk to people here in my office, some very upset, and 98 percent of them leave satisfied. The other two percent, well,” he said, tossing up his arms, “you can’t do anything about it.”

Political office has been bandied about for Chitwood, both in Portland and here, but he has no desire to retire from police work. As long as he’s physically and mentally fit—and he works out every day, still goes on the drug busts, rides along on the bike patrol—as long as he’s able to handle it, Chitwood says he’s going to keep on doing this job.

“I love it.”