Montoursville Police Chief Robert Tobias is seen here in the offices of the department on his third week on the job. Tobias started his career in law enforcement in 1993 and was recently elevated to the rank of chief. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

When most people come out of retirement, the usual reason given is boredom, but for new Montoursville Police Department Chief Robert Tobias, it was a call to serve.

“I’ve always called Montoursville, my home away from home. I went to school and graduated high school from Montoursville. I worked in the borough. So this has always been kind of a special place,” the new chief said.

Tobias began his law enforcement career in 1994 as a member of the Clinton Township and Watsontown Borough police departments before entering the state police a year later, where he held a variety of positions over the years.

Beginning as a trooper in York, Emporium, Montoursville and Lamar, Tobias would move through the ranks of Criminal Investigator, to Corporal and Sergeant at Troop F – Coudersport.

He would then spend almost eight years as Station Commander at the Lamar state police barracks, going on to be promoted to Lieutenant, working in the Bureau of Gaming Enforcement, before becoming patrol section commander at Troop H.

Tobias would go on to become a captain and Director of Operations for Liquor Control Enforcement, and ultimately, troop Commander at Troop P – Wyoming ultimately being promoted to Major and Director of the Bureau of Forensics, from where he retired in 2022.

But having experienced so many years in law enforcement, retirement just did not suit Tobias.

“Almost 20 years ago, when I became a station Commander, I realized that a lot of the stress on the job wasn’t what affected people more than their personal life, and I decided that I wanted to be a chaplain for police,” he explained, ultimately graduating with a masters degree in theology.

Following his initial retirement, Tobias was ordained as a reverend in the evangelical covenant order of Presbyterians, and served as chaplain for the Williamsport Bureau of Police.

“In the interim, I was pastoring a church in Northumberland, and when that ended, I still felt the call to be of use,” he said.

“With 30-plus years of law enforcement and all the training and experience I gained, all the training in leadership, I felt that I had something to offer,” he said.

“I always said when I retired, that if I found a local police department that needed some leadership help, that I would jump at the chance to do that,” Tobias said, adding that it is his duty to pass on all that he’s learned.

“We’re standing on the shoulders of those who went before us, and one of my philosophies of organizational leadership is that I always wanted to learn the position of the person above me and ask them to be my mentor, and I always wanted to look for someone in a position below me to mentor,” he said.

Although unsure of exactly what he was stepping into, upon hearing about the job opening, Tobias knew he could use his vast experience for the betterment of the department.

Though the transition has, at times, been “hectic” and “challenging,” as all transitions are, Tobias’ years of training, along with his familiarity with the borough have been a tremendous benefit.

“There are officers here that I’ve known for decades. There are some that I’ve never met. But in the local community of Lycoming County and the state police, I know many of them,” he said.

As the newly minted police chief, Tobias has formulated a new mission for the department.

“The mission of the Montoursville police department is to protect the way of life for the whole community and provide professional policing that the community can trust by enforcing the law with integrity and fairness,” Tobias said.

His vision includes a three-point strategy of professionalism, pride and presence.

“I want this department to be professional, to encourage and provide training for the officers, for them to be professional in their conduct and their contacts with the community. And for us to be looked at at some point as a model for the county, as far as a police department that is forward thinking, forward looking, and always having a mind on growing our officers to be leaders, not only in the department, but in the community,” he said.

While being prideful can have a negative connotation, Tobias stressed that he does not use that word in a haughty way.

“I want our officers to be proud of what they do, proud of their police department, proud of their community, and I want the community to trust the officers,” he said.

“There seems to be a great level of community trust in Montoursville, and I would like to see it work in both directions,” Tobias said.

“And by presence, I mean, when our officers are here, that they are present and that they are focused on doing their job, but when they’re home, I want them to be present at home, taking care of themselves, taking care of their family,” the chief said.

“Something I learned in the FBI National Academy is just how much this job, the lack of sleep, the things that officers encounter, how much those things weigh, not just on themselves, but their whole family,” Tobias said.

As for his hometown community that he now serves, Tobias wants its residents to know that the department will continue to strive to bring them the best service possible.

“It might seem trite, but we remember from the old police shows on the LAPD vehicles, they said they ‘protect and serve.’ It seems like a simple, quick saying, but that’s really what I expect of the officers here, is that we are here to protect the way of life for this whole community, and we are here to serve as best as we can, and to do that, we need to focus more on training and ensuring that this department continues to survive,” he said.

“There’s a big struggle with budgetary concerns in any city, borough, township, anymore. We realize that costs are just going to continue increasing for police protection, but I want to make sure that the people of this community look at their police department and say, ‘yeah, that’s what we want, and we will support it through any, any means that we can,'” Tobias said.