Ross Police Swear In Two New Officers

Two, new officers formally joined the Ross Township Police Department Monday night.

Patrolmen Justin Allenbaugh and Daniel Papale were sworn-in by district magistrate Richard Opiela at the beginning of the Ross Township commissioners meeting.


Papale previously served as a Sergeant on the University of Pittsburgh Police Department where he ended the March, 2012 shooting rampage at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in which two people were killed and seven others wounded.

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. described the efforts of Sgt. Papale and fellow Pitt officers as "nothing short of heroic," the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. 

Papale arrived in the lobby of Western Psych on March 8, 2012 minutes after John Schick had begun his deadly rampage.

A short time later, he fired the three shots which ended Shick's life as he was still aiming a 9 mm handgun at officers.

"I was in that place at that moment, but any one of the other officers on the department could have easily done what I did," he told the P-G.

Allenbaugh, who served two combat tours in Iraq, previously served for the Crafton Police Department. He began his law enforcement career in Allegheny Township, Westmoreland County.

"It's an honor to have both of these men join the force," said Ross Commission Board President Grant Montgomery. "Ross residents are protected by a well-trained, qualified police force."

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