Norristown appoints new police chief. Not every councilmember was on board

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Norristown Municipal Council voted 4-1 Tuesday evening to appoint Michael Trail as the next chief of police. 

Councilmembers Dustin Queenan and Jasmine Griffen both opted to abstain. Queenan said he requested information and did not receive all of it.

“To make an informed decision, you’re supposed to have all the information you need, and I felt as though I did not have that,” he said.

Trail, who is currently Lansdale’s police chief, will begin his tenure on Nov. 3. He declined to speak with the press following the vote.

“He not only was the most qualified, but he has a vision for policing in Norristown that I think is appropriate to what Norristown needs,” said Council President Rebecca Smith, who voted to appoint Trail.

Councilmember Mydera Robinson cast the lone “no” vote. 

Council announced Trail’s hiring on Aug. 13 after narrowing down their pool of 51 candidates to three. Tuesday’s vote makes the choice official. Robinson said she believes Trail is “highly qualified,” but she had a different preferred choice. 

“I didn’t want to just afford the opportunity to go with the consensus and have them miss the opportunity to see that sometimes we don’t always agree at the moment, but there is always a call towards the greater good — and I ultimately think the greater good was accomplished,” she said.

Norristown cycles through four police chiefs in as many years

The Norristown Police Department serves approximately 35,000 residents in the Montgomery County seat. Trail will be the Municipality’s fourth police chief in four years.

Former Chief Jacqueline Bailey-Davis resigned in 2024 after less than a year on the job. Former Chief Derrick Wood stepped down in 2022 after a brief tenure in 2022. Former Chief Mark Talbot, who left in 2021, spent eight years as top cop. 

Queenan said the constant upheaval has caused “trauma.”

“Norristown deserves better,” he said. “They deserve a lot, and what I want to do is make sure they get it.”

Working together for better public safety in Norristown

Queenan said he’s committed to working with Trail and will introduce him to the community through town halls and public sessions. 

“When I was born and raised in Norristown growing up, I couldn’t walk more than six blocks without three families trying to feed me,” Queenan said. “We all knew each other. I think we need to get back to that.”

Trail has spent more than 30 years in law enforcement. He got started as a police officer in Morrisville in 1991. He later served in Baltimore in 1997 before heading to Lansdale in 2002. He eventually became the borough’s chief in 2018. 

“He is a community builder, and he has long experience with a lens of recruiting good people, and we need that here as well,” Smith said. “He has led on introducing mental health coverage responder models, mental health hubs, and homeless response teams in ways that are really meant to [treat] people with dignity and not criminalize people experiencing a myriad of issues that the instinct might be to call 911 for.”

Trail’s hiring comes as Norristown has been rocked by a series of U.S. Immigration Customs and Enforcement raids.

The council also promoted Lieutenant James Angelucci to deputy chief on Tuesday. Since Bailey-Davis’ departure , Angelucci served as acting police chief and will continue to serve in that role until Trail’s first day. Robinson praised his leadership.“I think he’s done a lot in the last eight months,” she said. “Honestly, the fact that it’s been a little bit quieter in this community says a lot. That’s not always something that we know how to appreciate in the moment.”