Meet Douglas Grimes, Peters Township’s new deputy police chief

When he was 12, Doug Grimes knew he wanted a career in law enforcement.
He was on a hunting trip with his father, brother, uncle and a cousin in rural Somerset County. Two intoxicated men had shot out the window of one of the cars and there were bullet holes in both, he said.
“I didn’t feel safe until the state trooper arrived,” recalled Grimes, the new deputy chief of the Peters Township police department.
Despite being a scary moment, that incident also served as an epiphany for Grimes, now 53. He didn’t want people to experience what he went through and knew he would go into law enforcement and make people feel safe and give them closure.
“I want to put the victims at ease,” he said.
“When someone is arrested, you’re taking away their freedom and their money,” Grimes said. “I try and treat them with dignity.”
Following a brief stint as an aircraft mechanic, the Jefferson Hills native joined the Forward Township police department, where he worked for 16 months. And in April 1987, Grimes became a member of the state police.
Grimes started as a patrolman and worked his way up the ladder. He became a corporal in 1993 and worked in research and development. He later, still as a corporal, worked in criminal investigation and served as the supervisor of the Fugitive Apprehension Unit. He was also a patrol unit supervisor, all in either the central or eastern part of the state.
In 2002, he became a sergeant and headed the Western Regional Auto Theft Task Force in Pittsburgh and in June 2007, Grimes became a lieutenant and commander of the Megan’s Law Section, Bureau of Records and Identification. Four years later, he was promoted to captain and was stationed in Harrisburg. While at the state capitol, Grimes was the director of the Operational Records Division, Bureau of Records and Identification and director of the Investigation and Operational Support Division, Bureau of Forensic Services.
In 2013, Grimes became a major and executive director of the Municipal Police Officers Education and Training Commission, which sets certification and standards for police officers employed in the Commonwealth.
Grimes said he planned to retire from the state police in 2016, until he saw Peters was looking for a deputy police chief.
“I was with the state for 28 and a half years,” Grimes said. “I could have retired three years ago. But, the Peters job was intriguing and was near where I grew up. Peters is a nice community and I did my research.”
Grimes started his new position Sept. 1. Peters council created the position earlier this year when Captain Michael Yanchak, the department’s second in command, announced that he planned to retire in January 2016. Council wanted to get someone in as soon as possible to train with Yanchak, who has been with the department since 1982. Also, Chief Harry Fruecht is expected to retire in 2016.
“Right now I am picking Michael’s brain and assisting Chief Fruecht,” Grimes said of his first week on the job.
Grimes is a graduate of the Criminal Justice Training Center at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania State Police Academy and the FBI National Academy. He also has a degree in criminal justice from Elizabethtown College in Lancaster County.
“He is a great addition to the department,” Fruecht said.
Grimes and his wife, Suzanne, who is from Elizabeth, are in the process of buying a home in Peters. They are the parents of two grown sons, Joshua, 30, a junior high history teacher in Mifflin County, and Matthew, 27, who works for Brinks Security in Phoenix.
When he is not working, Grimes said he likes to golf, life weights and ride his motorcycle.
“I don’t expect things here to be much different,” he said.