Moran

Logan Township has a new police chief.

He is Devon Moran, 40, a Latrobe native who grew up from the age of 2 in Logan Township, graduating from Altoona Area High School and then Penn State Altoona, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice.

Moran has served in municipal law enforcement in Centre County for the past 16 years and succeeds Dave Hoover, who recently retired as chief of the Logan Township Police Department.

The Logan supervisors approved Moran’s hire on Thursday, after which Moran was sworn in before an audience of approximately 20 family members and friends.

He was the only candidate the supervisors considered, according to board Chairman Jim Patterson.

The township didn’t advertise the opening, he said.

The township made the connection with Moran when Moran came to the township building on police business, got into a conversation and learned about the opening.

It was luck, Patterson said.

Moran has always admired the Logan Township government, he said.

He has long believed that the township department was “the premier agency in Blair County,” he said after his swearing-in.

He lived in Centre County in accordance with his prior agency’s residency requirement, but when that was relaxed, he moved back to Logan in 2020, he said.

As a Logan resident, he doesn’t need to move to satisfy the township’s own continuing residency requirement, he said.

Moran was a sergeant at his prior agency — which he declined to identify specifically — although an online search revealed that it was the Ferguson Township Police Department.

The Logan supervisors were impressed with Moran’s leadership traits and his communication skills, according to Patterson.

Moran demonstrated competence as a grant writer at his previous job, according to Patterson.

That could translate into money for police equipment in Logan, Patterson said.

Moran is “analytical” and was instrumental in obtaining accreditation with the Pennsylvania Association of Chiefs of Police for his previous employer, according to Logan Supervisor Ed Frontino.

That work involved developing policies that meet the “gold standards of policing,” then proving “adherence” to those policies, Moran said afterward.

Moran impressed the Logan supervisors with his determination to accompany his officers on major calls, as some former Logan chiefs have done, according to Patterson.

In his new role, he will “listen, learn and implement,” Moran said.

He likes policing for the variety of experiences it provides and for the “day-to-day interacting with the community,” Moran said.

“(And) it’s special to me to get to come back to lead the police department that is home,” he said.

Moran is married with two children.

His starting salary will be $103,000, with benefits that include membership in a pension program, health, dental and vision insurance, a life insurance policy and 22 days of annual vacation.

Moran is one of a succession of Logan chiefs that have collectively raised the “level” of the department over the years, Patterson said.