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After 44 years in law enforcement, Altoona's first female police chief, Janice Freehling, is retiring Monday, leaving a legacy of cultivating leaders and building community relationships.
"I plan to relax and enjoy it," Freehling said. "I have my kitchen to remodel, and I want to travel to Colorado, Arizona and Texas -- but my first stop will be the beach."
While her father, Calvin Johnston, wanted her to pursue a career in teaching like her sisters, Freehling said her mother, Margery, proudly stood behind her daughter's decision to enter law enforcement in 1977.
"I get all my determination from my mother," Freehling said, explaining she admired her mother's late-in-life decision to transition from homemaker to health care professional.
Growing up in Hollidaysburg, Freehling said she looked up to a neighbor who was in law enforcement, but she didn't decide on the career until she was in college.
"I majored in criminology in college, and the part I enjoyed the most were the courses on policing," Freehling said.
Despite entering a male-dominated career field in the late '70s -- at a time when society still clung to the idea most women should be at home raising kids -- Freehling said she never felt like she was treated differently than the other officers.
A Bureau of Justice Statistics study completed in 2013 found about 8% of local police officers across America were women in 1987 -- 10 years after Freehling hired on with the Altoona Police Department.
By 2013, that percentage rose to about 12%, but Freehling said the most female police officers she remembered working with at the Altoona station was about 10 when the department had about 100 officers on the books.
Because of budget cuts, the number of officers employed by the department has now dwindled to about 60, of which three are female, she said.
"I don't know if we'll see another female police chief in the department's near future," Freehling said. "It all depends on the person."
Altoona Police Deputy Chief Joe Merrill will take over for Freehling in the interim as the city begins the search for a new police chief.
Times, they are a changin'
Largely due to technological advances, policing has traveled far since Freehling's first days on the force.
"When I first started, our reports were done on a typewriter," she said. "We had to do three reports, and we used carbon paper. There was no Facebook, and the internet wasn't out there."
As the world zipped into the future, so too did the efforts to enforce law and order.
In 2019, the Altoona Police Department purchased body cameras for its officers under Freehling's direction.
"Technological advances have been really helpful to policing efforts," she said. "With the body cams, they're as important to our own officers' safety as they are for the community's."
As chief, being able to review what happened in a particular incident from the officer's perspective is a vital tool in determining how to handle complaints against police, Freehling said.
Crimes changed throughout the years as well.
Freehling said the number of firearms calls were drastically lower when she started, and rather than dealing with drug-related crimes on a daily basis, police regularly responded to bar fights.
"The drug issue is probably the biggest challenge facing police today," she said.
Nowadays, police are tasked to do more with less as budgets tighten. Since becoming chief, Freehling said her staff has been reduced by about 40%.
"We didn't handle nearly the number of calls (with a staff of about 100 police officers) that we do today with that number at 60," she said. "These guys and girls work very hard and do an outstanding job, but if we had additional officers, we would be able to do more."
Freehling said she wasn't sure what the next 20 years could hold for the local department -- perhaps drone-assisted policing or driverless cars -- but whatever the future holds, she said she hopes the city hires more police to maintain the safety of the community.
Outside looking in
Lauded by the Altoona City Council and Mayor Matt Pacifico for her leadership skills, Freehling's time as chief has not been without hurdles.
In 2010, a 65-year-old man said he was assaulted by two off-duty city officers after he walked into a restroom at Pellegrine's Lounge, witnessed the officers assaulting another man and tried to intervene.
And in 2019, Altoona Police Sgt. Matthew Starr was found guilty of stealing money from the police department in 2017 and using it to gamble.
When handling allegations of wrongdoing within the department, Freehling said she believed it best to bring in an outside perspective.
"Our preference is to have an outside agency investigate officer-involved shootings or any cases of criminal conduct involving a police officer," she said. "It's not always an easy decision (to bring in outside investigators), but it is always the right decision."
Pacifico, who was first elected mayor in 2013, said he had confidence in how Freehling handled her department -- during the highs and the lows.
"I think she handled those situations the best she could have at the time," he said.
Cultivating leaders
Freehling's legacy as the Altoona Police Department's first female detective, first female patrol tour commander, first female lieutenant of the patrol division, first female captain of police and first female police chief might be second only to her legacy as a leader who fostered a department of young, devoted officers willing to put their community first.
"The officers that have come through the police department, that speaks volumes to what she has done for the city," Pacifico said. "The chief has done an amazing job over the years of cultivating officers into great leaders."
Altoona City Manager Ken Decker said Freehling's legacy is the people she's trained to look after Altoona once she's gone.
"We have a really good police department," Decker said. "(Freehling's) departure will leave some really big holes. The next in line has some big shoes to fill."
During a Blair County Criminal Justice Advisory Board meeting on Feb. 18, Freehling's career was praised in comments authored by Harry Lorenzi, a Blair County deputy court administrator.
Lorenzi applauded Freehling's membership in the Blair County Overdose Prevention Task Force, proactively training her staff on the challenges presented by the opioid crisis and working toward a community policing approach to addressing substance abuse disorders.
Pacifico described Freehling as a compassionate person who put her city first.
"I think the chief has done a great job of building community relations, and ensuring that our men and women of the police department are also part of the community," he said.
As Freehling retires from her post, Decker said the next steps will be to hire a new, full-time chief -- but the city does not plan to rush through the process.
"I think there's an advantage to letting Deputy Chief Merrill settle in a little," he said. "I want to make sure we take our time. We have a lot of irons in the fire right now."
Looking to the future, Freehling said she encourages kids considering a career in law enforcement to go for it.
"I think it's wonderful when young people are interested in policing," she said. "I have been here 44 years, and I have been blessed. It's never something I thought of as work. It's simply something I have enjoyed."
Mirror Staff Writer Ike Fredregill is at 814-946-7458.