Drew Skelton, the interim chief of the East Greenville Borough Police Department, requested that residents respect his position during Monday's borough council meeting.

            "This is my third day on the job," Skelton said. "Be flexible with me. I ask that you respect my position. I am doing the best I can. I am doing my damnedest to serve you."

            Skelton, a New Hanover resident who started his new job on June 1, responded to comments from one audience member who expressed his displeasure with council's decision to create a new police department.

            "I am not the problem," Skelton said during a tense exchange with Michael Schwenk. "I am not a puppet. I'm your chief, for now."

            The law enforcement official declined to comment on questions about council's decision to withdraw from the Upper Perk Police Commission. "I'm not to get involved with politics," he said during the meeting.

            Skelton told the audience that between June 1 and June 5, he responded to four incidents in the borough. Those incidents, he said, were a subject sleeping in a vehicle, a non-reportable crash, an animal complaint, and the discovery of a syringe on Hamilton Road.

            According to the interim chief, the state police responded to a pair of noise complaints in East Greenville during the same period.

            Skelton reminded the residents that the agency is their primary law enforcement and the newly created department will augment the state police whenever possible. He asked residents to stop posting misleading information on social media on this issue.

            "Let's get rid of the misinformation on Facebook," he said.

            In his first three days on the job, Skelton told the residents he met with many business owners and administrators from the Upper Perkiomen Middle School, where he received a tour.

            The new chief also reported that he met privately with Mike Devlin and Darren Morgan, chiefs of the Upper Perk and Marlborough Township police departments, respectively. Skelton told the audience that he's known both for several years, and expressed confidence that the departments would do their best to support each other.

            "The meeting was like old times," he said.

            The new department will set a tone of compliance regarding speeding in the borough, according to Skelton. He added, the municipality's road department will be painting lines on borough roads in preparation for speed enforcement.

            Stressing transparency, Skelton invited borough residents to pose any questions regarding the department on a newly created Facebook page. The chief said he is the only person with the ability to respond to a message left at https://www.facebook.com/Borough-of-East-Greenville-Police-Department-114411322480686/.

            He also invited the public to attend a Coffee With a Cop event at Java & Bake Co., 231 Main Street, at 8 a.m. on June 26.