The Town of Cheektowaga has had law enforcement since its beginning, first constables and later a police department.

22 MAR 1839:   Charter to erect the town of "Chictawaga" has provision for constables. Resolved by the majority that there be but two constables for this Town.

16 APR 1839:    First annual meeting elects two constables, James M. Green and Nelson Warner. 

                          These constables were charged with enforcement of crimes and town ordnances such as these;

4 MAR 1851:     Resolved that any person who shall willfully or negligently permit any hogs to run at large in the town shall be liable to a penalty of two dollars.

4 MAR 1862:     Resolved that no cattle, horses, sheep, hogs or geese shall be permitted to run at large either upon the commons or highways of the Town of Cheektowaga.

                           Constables were paid by fees for their work. They had little supervision or organization. It wasn’t until 1901 that the town attempted to gain more control by appointing a chief and adopting work rules for constables.

3 JUN 1901:      Resolved that Albert F. Carl of the Town of Cheektowaga be and he is hereby appointed chief constable in and for the Town of Cheektowaga to have and to hold the same until the next annual meeting of town officers is provided by the laws of the state of New York.

17 JUN 1901:    Rules were adopted for the governing of constables.

                           The chief did not last long, but the rules stayed in place. It wasn’t until 1922 that the town appointed another chief for control.

6 FEB 1922:      Moved that Amedeo Cappola be and he is hereby appointed chief constable over the appointed constables and together with the Town Board to define and outline the several districts in which appointed constables will be allowed to perform their duties. 

                           This organization was improved in 1928 when the town scraped the fee system. A full time salaried force was appointed with a chief and a lieutenant. They were now able to work out of the new town hall building which had opened the year before.

20 FEB 1928:    Moved that the offices of Chief Constable and Lieutenant Constable be and the same are created and be it further,

                           Resolved that the Chief Constable and Lieutenant Constable be, and they are hereby designated to have charge and supervision over the entire police department of this town, subject to the rules and regulations of this town board now in effect or such rules and regulations which may be adopted hereafter.

                           Moved that all warrants and summons and all actions must be returnable and tried at the Town Hall to take effect 1 MAR 1928.

                           In 1932 the town had to comply with state law and the police department became civil service and state recognized.  A force consisting of a chief and 11 patrolman was established.

                           Resolved, that the following men be appointed to the police department of the Town of Cheektowaga, said appointments to take effect at midnight 30 JUN 1932: 

                           Chief of Police  Charles Wohlford        monthly salary    $175.00

                           Patrolman           Peter Weber             monthly salary    $120.00

                           Patrolman           Frank Zalemski          monthly salary   $120.00

                           Patrolman         Charles Lauer              monthly salary   $120.00

                           Patrolman           John Mersmann 

                           Patrolman           Stephen Choinski

                           Patrolman           Joseph Huber

                           Patrolman           Walter Przepiora

                           Patrolman           John Bogacki

                           Patrolman           William Mendel

                           Patrolman           Louis Kozlowski

                           Patrolman         Christopher Klenk

                                    The town grew rapidly after the Second World War and along with it the police department. By 1950 it was a much larger and matured force.                      

16 NOV 1950:   Cheektowaga Times:   Cheektowaga has an efficient police force of a captain, five lieutenants, 30 patrolmen, four police dispatchers, and a matron, under the command of Police Chief Walter Marynowski, and Supervisor Benedict T Holtz, police commissioner.

                           The five lieutenants, who were promoted during the last year, took competitive civil service examinations for their posts, they are:

                           Lt. William Graham in charge of the detective bureau: Lt. Graham is also the fingerprint and   identification man of the department.

                           Lt. Stanley Szymanski in charge of the motorcycle department.  This department has five cycles, and expects to have two more next summer.

                           Lt. Benedict Kostrzewski in charge of records:

                           Lt. Frank Enser in charge of the traffic division:  He handles traffic at accidents, fire, at school crossings, at parades, funerals, etc. his men are well trained in accident prevention.

                           Lt. Bernard Kistowski, who specializes in promoting efficiency in the patrol duties of the department: The department first aid division is credited with saving many lives each year.  They have an inhalator and a resuscitator, a gadget which will take over the breathing duties of the lungs. It is invaluable for such emergencies as a severe asthma attack.  The men of the force also take regular examinations in first aid work.

                           Captain John Mersmann also a civil service appointee heads this working force of the town police department. There is a lieutenant in charge of each shift, with one for relief. Lt. Graham, of the detective bureau, is on call all the time. There are also four police dispatchers.

20 JUN 1957:    Cheektowaga Times:   The town expects to sign an agreement this week with the Niagara Frontier Port authority to provide police protection at the Buffalo Airport.  The authority will bear the entire cost. The City of Buffalo has patrolled the airport with one policeman 24 hr. a day.   The port authority now has jurisdiction over the airport and has requested that Cheektowaga Police replace the Buffalo contingent on the same patrol schedule.

3 NOV 1960:     Cheektowaga Times:   The k-9 corps for the Cheektowaga Police Department became a reality yesterday with the presentation of a German shepherd dog to the department by the Westinghouse Electric Corp. The animal will be trained by the Buffalo Police Department before it becomes an integral part of the police force in the town. The dog has been assigned to patrolman Ralph Gardner and the two will train together so that they may work as a team.

22 FEB 1968:    Cheektowaga Times: Cheektowaga will dedicate its new police-courts bldg. with music, oratory and colorful ceremony Saturday. The affair starts with an open house for the public from 11am to 4pm.  The new $850,000 building will be festooned with Cheektowaga's official colors, gold and black.  Suspended from the ceiling will be two large "scales of justice" filled with flowers. 

3 JUN 1971:      Cheektowaga Times: Town board members have authorized police Chief Benedict L Kostrzewski to hire eight new patrolmen, bringing total police personnel to 114.

8 SEP 1976:      Buffalo News: Cheektowaga names first woman cop ‑ Christine M Ziemba may have made local history on Tuesday night. Miss Ziemba, a 22 year old blonde, became the first woman in the Town of Cheektowaga to be named a police officer in the town’s Police dept. Town officials believe she is the first woman to be named a police officer in suburban Erie County

2 JUL 1977:      Buffalo Evening News: SHOT KILLS CHEEKTOWAGA PATROLMAN - A young Cheektowaga patrolman was shot to death late Friday by a man who had downed half a pint of rubbing alcohol before grabbing a service revolver from another policeman and firing a barrage of shots. Officer Robert A. Burgess, 27, a police officer for just nine months, was hit in the chest by a bullet fired from the gun of his partner.

20 OCT 1977:    Buffalo Evening News: Bandit Kills Officer in Cheektowaga ‑ A dark blue cap and a light colored car were the only clues to the identity of a motel bandit who shot a Cheektowaga police officer to death during the night. The police officer, David J. Tolsma, 32, was killed when he and his partner answered a silent alarm at the Holiday Inn near Greater Buffalo International Airport about 1 this morning.

17 APR 1986:    Cheektowaga Bee: As police gear for unit’s end, memories linger – The end of an era for the Cheektowaga Police Department is slowly and unceremoniously coming at Greater Buffalo International Airport. The last of the police representatives, a captain, is scheduled to be pulled in from duty there when a town airport contract expires May 31. This will leave the department with only memories of many years spent doing everything from directing traffic to making drug busts at the Genesee St. facility.

21 JUN 1988:    Cheektowaga Times: E‑911 off to smooth start‑ Enhanced 911 has theright numbers, it got off to a great start here Monday and should do even better when its new quarters in the Police‑Courts Building are ready. The Town will spend some $80,000 remodeling and equipping a room on the building’s first floor where police and fire dispatchers can operate together.

 3 MAY 1990: Buffalo News: Police calls rise sharply in quarter ‑ Cheektowaga police are reporting one of their busiest quarters since they began keeping statistics 20 years ago. "We've had the most dramatic jump in calls in the history of the Police             Department," Capt. John Howlett said Wednesday.  A report of crime statistics for the first quarter of the year, released Tuesday, shows that from Jan. 1 to Mar 31, calls to town police have increased significantly from those of the first quarter of 1989. Police received 8,885 calls in the first three months of the year, compared with 6,837 during the same period last year, the report said.

10 JUL 1994: Metro Community News: Police dept. accepts award ‑ The Cheektowaga Police department has received its formal Certificate of Accreditation from the state in recognition of more than three years of work involving every member of the department. Accredited departments, of which there are now 55 out of 564 agencies in the state, must meet 169 accreditation standards.

20 APR 1995: Cheektowaga Bee: Police substation opens ‑ Dozens of politicians, police personnel and local residents crowded into the Cheektowaga Police Substation no. 1, 2370 Genesee Street, for its grand opening last week. The substation, a former ice cream parlor, is located near Pine Ridge Road and less than a half mile from the Buffalo border. The substation will not be manned 24 hours a day, but it will be used by officers to fill out reports in instead of going to police headquarters at 3223 Union Road to do so, as well as for community meetings.

4 AUG 1995: Buffalo News: Police start foot patrol in Cheektowaga ‑ A group of police officers donned their walking shoes this week as the Cheektowaga Police Department initiated foot patrols in two neighborhoods, Cedargrove Heights ‑ sandwiched between the Kensington Expressway and Genesee Street east of Harlem Road ‑ and the Walden Avenue neighborhood near the Buffalo City line. A key to the department's ongoing community policing efforts, the foot patrols will help increase the police presence in the town and establish a rapport with community residents. The foot patrols will continue through Sept. 30 and are funded through a $12,000 grant from the towns' federal Community Block Grant program.

16 NOV 1995:Cheektowaga Bee: Police enforce truck rules ‑ enforcement of Cheektowaga's truck route system and other transportation rules appears to be in full force. Cheektowaga police are conducting checks of trucks at various sites in town. The Town Board approved a truck route system in October 1994, and after buying scales and posting signs, the enforcement started in May, according to Sgt. David Przepiora, supervisor of the Cheektowaga Police  traffic unit.

11 JUL 1996: Cheektowaga Times: Police Dept. offers citizen's police academy ‑ The Citizen's Academy will start in September, the eleven week course will teach residents the ins and outs of police work and the department. Lt. Christine Ziemba said residents will learn about different units, how policy is made, physical training techniques and laws. They may also get a chance to shoot a few rounds in the firing range, or ride along with an on duty patrol officer. The course, which will be taught by police officers, is designed to make the community aware of what the department does and why.

 3 OCT 1996:   Cheektowaga Times: New-in Car computers will aid Town Police - The Town has received a $45,000 State grant that will allow the Police Department to install computers and printers in several police cars.  The computers will provide patrol officers a direct connection to the NYS Police Information Network and other agencies as well as silent car to car communication through typed messages. The state of the art computers will give officers instant access to information on stolen vehicles, outstanding warrants, and drivers’ license information. 

19 SEP 1996: Cheektowaga Bee: Town gains property for outdoor shooting range- The conveyance to Cheektowaga from Erie of several acres of property off Scott Place for a police department outdoor shooting range was approved by the Town Board Monday. The department has sought the property to improve and expand its firearms training facilities, with the indoor range located in the basement of police headquarters.

3 OCT 1996:   Cheektowaga Times: Police to keep tabs on cars using manned road checks- Carrying on a new innovation that started at the request of Cedargrove residents, Town police have begun a program of neighborhood traffic road checks.  Officers will stand at busy side street intersections to look for traffic violations. An officer will be assigned to this duty when there's enough manpower available on a particular shift--enough so that assigning an officer to a road check won't hurt the performance of the patrol and accident investigation units.

5 DEC 1996:  Cheektowaga Times: Police department tracks history from 1839 –1969-Sergeant David Przepiora, Lieutenant Cheryl Rucinski and T. E. Rowan recently completed a history of the Police Department entitled, A Historical Perspective.

17 MAY 1997: Buffalo News: Memorial honors those killed in the line of duty – Cheektowaga police officers, officials and residents came to a small plot of land on Como Park Boulevard and Indian Road in Cheektowaga on Friday to honor the dead.    A plaque honoring those who died while enforcing the law was placed on a large rock at the site for all to remember, a community effort that has been in the works for about two years.

                        The memorial and Friday’s service were the doing of Cheektowaga resident Michael Papero. Police officials appreciated the community gesture and appreciate the acknowledgment that police every day put their lives on the line for the public.

1 DEC 1997:   The National League of Cities has awarded the Cheektowaga Police department the “1997Excellence in Community Policing Award” in the category of Community Policing and Violence against Women for its domestic violence training program entitled “Transitions.”  A project that was a joint venture between the Cheektowaga police department, Haven House and the National conference to develop an organizational culture responsive to the needs of domestic violence victims.

11 NOV 1998: Cheektowaga Bee:  Task force backs police in school districts- Uniformed police officers may be headed into the hallways of the four Cheektowaga school districts as role models against violence, a task force has recommended.

24 JUN 1999: Cheektowaga Times: Town police department has received reaccreditation- the Cheektowaga police Department has received reaccreditation after an extensive review of more than 144 rigorous standards in the areas of administration, officer training, and operations. The standards impact such critical activities as evidence handling, recruitment, selection of personnel, discipline, the use of force and high speed pursuits. 

21 NOV 1999:  Cheektowaga Times: Twenty cell attendants hired by Town police- the Police Department hired twenty new part-time cell block attendants as part of its efforts to free up police officers from headquarters and utilize them on the streets.