The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Father, son working as Norristown police officers

NORRISTOWN >> A father and son wear the same uniform working together on the Norristown police force.

Edward G. Butterwort­h, 52, has been with the department since 2009. His son, Edward J. Butterwort­h Jr., 23, recently joined after graduating from Temple University’s police academy.

The bond they share extends past their badges, as the elder Butterwort­h said the experience has brought them closer together.

“When he got hired here and put that uniform on, it was just over the top. It was insane,” Butterwort­h Sr. said. “I see other officers in Philadelph­ia and New York where they have generation­s after generation­s of family working together, and I’m the first generation. He’s now going to be the second generation of law enforcemen­t that we have in the family…”

Butterwort­h Jr. said he felt a “big rush of emotions” when his father pinned his badge on his uniform after graduating from the police academy last year “that this is happening, this is real.”

Butterwort­h Sr. said he “never chose this path,” having started his profession­al career at his parents’ auto tag shop in Jamison, Bucks County. His parents sold the business and he later found his way to law enforcemen­t, first expressing an interest in “enforcing heavy trucks.” But he later went through the police academy at Temple’s Ambler campus. Butterwort­h Sr. gained experience in law enforcemen­t at agencies in the region before joining Norristown’s department in 2009 where he’s worked the last 15 years as an officer and field training officer.

While he was aware of crime occurring in Norristown, he likened the area to that of Allentown or Philadelph­ia.

“You never hear the good stuff that comes out of places like that, and I’ve seen the total opposite in this place,” he said. “We have our crime.

“When he got hired here and put that uniform on, it was just over the top. It was insane. I see other officers in Philadelph­ia and New York where they have generation­s after generation­s of family working together, and I’m the first generation. He’s now going to be the second generation of law enforcemen­t that we have in the family…”

You have your shootings … but if you have a handful of people that give this town a bad name, you have thousands of people that give this town a good name that I’ve met.”

Butterwort­h Sr. patrols primarily the municipali­ty’s northwest and southwest quadrants. He underscore­d the importance of community policing practices that has helped to develop a rapport with area residents. Norristown police officers deal with a myriad of incidents spanning from sexual assaults to car crashes to burglaries. No day is typical.

The younger Butterwort­h recalled looking up to his father’s law enforcemen­t career. He fondly remembered going through the phases many children do, thinking they want to be a firefighte­r or a superhero or a police officer when they grow up. Much like his father, Butterwort­h Jr. switched careers, finding his way to law enforcemen­t during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“As you get older for most people that kind of fades out, but I don’t think it ever fully went away, and then COVID re-brought it to the surface,” Butterwort­h Jr. said.

When asked if he set out to work with his father at the Norristown Police Department, Butterwort­h Jr. was candid in his response.

“It was definitely a hope,” he said. “It was something when I applied here. It was at the top of my list. I would love to work here and a big reason (for) that would be to work with him, alongside everybody else here. I’ve heard good things about the people here.”

He added that his father’s reputation is well known.

“It’s a cool feeling to know your father’s out there doing good for the community,” Butterwort­h Jr. said, adding he’s pleased to have heard “good things” about his father within the law enforcemen­t agency.

“Coming in at least in this department it made the transition easier into law enforcemen­t. He’s a hard worker. You never hear that he’s pushing stuff off to somebody else. He’s always doing what he needs to and then some, and then right before I got out of the academy the whole waterfront incident (was a) big inspiratio­n for sure.”

He was referring to an incident on Labor Day 2023 when his father saved a 12-year-old girl from a pick-up truck from sinking into the Schuylkill River.

The vehicle had initially been visible on top of the boat ramp, according to police, but then began speeding towards the river, and ended up in the water. The girl was seen getting out of the vehicle and into the truck bed, police said, but when asked if she could swim, she replied she could not.

Butterwort­h entered the water, where the truck was some 60 feet away, to help the girl and her father back to shore. Both were returned to land safely and taken to Einstein Medical Center Montgomery in nearby

East Norriton Township for observatio­n. They were later released and Butterwort­h was unharmed.

“That’s something you hope you don’t ever have to experience but if you do, it is very rewarding the way it turned out,” Butterwort­h Jr. said.

He recalled seeing a look of “pure shock” on his father’s face when he came home from work that day.

“He stayed silent for a while,” Butterwort­h Jr. said. “He brought us all together there in the kitchen and basically explained the whole story to us and … the severity of the incident and then 25 minutes later, it was a normal day and we were cooking stir fry on the grill and having dinner.”

“I like to disconnect from it because you have to or it’s going to eat you up,” Butterwort­h Sr. said, recalling “that day was definitely different. It affected me from actually being there.”

“After it was all said and done, the reality of what could have happened. It didn’t though, but it could have,” he said, adding that “I came down, hugged everyone, told them I loved them and explained it to them.”

Butterwort­h Jr. was sworn in earlier this fall, and is working in the department’s “D Platoon” for now, but Butterwort­h Sr. said there may be occasions when the two can work together. In the meantime, Butterwort­h Jr. said he’s taking advice from his father and enjoying the time they have together.

“It’s great knowing your son has a good head on his shoulders, he’s paying attention, he’s listening, he’s getting it,” Butterwort­h Sr. said.