Thirty-eight-year veteran Peter McCrohan recalls the days before department owned a patrol car
By: Hilary Parker
Times have changed since Peter McCrohan first joined the Princeton Borough Police Department back in 1935.
Those were the days before the department owned its first patrol car, when officers’ salaries hovered just over $1,000 a year and a red light atop a phone at the corner of Witherspoon and Nassau streets told them it was time to call headquarters.
Those days, and others, are immortalized in the department’s display case visited Friday afternoon by former Chief McCrohan, a member of the department for 38 years and chief from 1961 to 1972.
"It was great seeing him," said current Chief Anthony Federico. "He’s 93 years old, in great shape and able to get around. It was just a fun time."
The display case, built a few years ago by local carpenter Henry Pannell, contains a number of items detailing the department’s history. Old-fashioned handcuffs, old badges and police dockets from the 1800s are on view, along with holsters worn over the decades and numerous photographs. Much of the memorabilia was donated by Mr. McCrohan himself, and his youthful visage can be found among the other officers’ faces in many of the early photographs.
"I am very proud of the department," Mr. McCrohan said, speaking positively of the modern-day officers. He had similarly kind words to share about the police headquarters, remodeled since his last visit to the area.
Though he and Edna, his wife of 61 years, retired to Florida years ago, they return to Princeton annually to tend to the Nassau Street house they still own, the same one where Mr. McCrohan was raised.
"I love Princeton," he said. "I always will come back however, it’s too cold here." Hence, the move to the Sunshine State.
While much of his beloved former hometown has changed, Mr. McCrohan said, particularly the areas along Witherspoon and Nassau streets, some things remain the same.
"I was never for consolidation of the (Princeton Borough and Princeton Township) governments, but I always thought we should consolidate the police departments," he said, recalling a time when the township police department numbered only two officers. "People talk about consolidating now, and we were talking about it back in 1935."
Now, as when he retired in 1973, Mr. McCrohan’s silver Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association card is safely stored in his wallet. It’s right next to a card from the Mercer County Police Chiefs Association, an organization in which he was a charter member.
But the PBA card hasn’t been there all along.
In 1985, Mr. McCrohan’s wallet was stolen while he was visiting St. Louis, Miss. Until Friday, when the borough police gave him a replacement silver card, there’s been a little extra room in his wallet.
"It was 21 years coming, but I’m very glad I have it," Mr. McCrohan said of his new card, which slipped right into place as if it had never been missing.
"It fits quite well," he added, chuckling.

