Officer Tom Nerlinger of Collegeville Police
Officer Nerlinger became a policeman due to his father, who he greatly admired
Officer Tom Nerlinger joined the Collegeville Police Force in April 2023. Although he is relatively new to Collegeville, he is one of our more experienced officers, along with Chief John Barnshaw, Detective Andy Sohl, and Officer Tim Kennedy.
Nerlinger previously served with the Royersford Police Force for 26 years, and was promoted to Chief of the Department in 2014.
When he took his retirement in 2022, Nerlinger went to work for the Limerick Generation Plant in security. Following his years of community policing, he found sitting all night monitoring computer screens incredibly boring. He contacted former Chief Bucher to ask to be considered in case there was ever an opening in Collegeville.
Throughout his career in Royersford, Nerlinger held the ranks of: Patrolman, Corporal, and Police Chief and retired as a Corporal. He also served on the Montgomery County SWAT team from 2000 to 2012.
“The SWAT teams are activated for dignitary protection, high-risk search and arrest warrants, hostage situations and barricaded armed persons,” he said.
Like many of Collegeville’s officers, Nerlinger grew up locally in Montgomery County, specifically in Plymouth Meeting. He attended Plymouth Whitemarsh Elementary School and Bishop Kenrick High School.
Nerlinger became a policeman due to his father, who he greatly admired. His dad, although trained as a radiation therapist at Jefferson Hospital, was also dedicated to community service. At different times in his career, Nerlinger’s father was a part-time policeman, served as a Fish & Game Commissioner and volunteered at the Harmonville Fire Company, rising to become Deputy Chief of the Company.
Nerlinger also gained diverse skills thanks to his family. His step-mom started a bakery and he grew up helping her. He worked every day at the bakery while he was attending the Police Academy. At one point, his policing and baking interests merged when he baked and decorated the wedding cake for two fellow officers.
“At that point, I had a lot of bakery experience. I ended up managing the bakery when my parents became snowbirds and moved to Florida for the winter,” Nerlinger said.
Upon completing his Associates Degree, his first professional job was as an emergency dispatcher in Lower Gwynedd and as a part-time officer in North Wales.
“Back then, larger towns had their own dispatchers,” said Nerlinger. “Now all the Emergency Dispatching is done at the county level.”
He worked as a dispatcher in West Norriton, and as a police officer in Royersford, where he met Kennedy in 1998.
Each of Collegeville’s officers have administrative and other duties in our Police Department, and for Nerlinger, it is overseeing all the police cars.
“I schedule the maintenance for the police cars to keep them running in top shape, and make sure that all the emergency gear is stocked in the cars. I also set up the speed displays throughout town," he said. “When I am on patrol in Collegeville, I like to do a little bit of everything. When I do rounds, I try the back doors of businesses when they are closed to make sure all the doors are locked. I’m also scanning all the cars in our parking lots, looking for something irregular. And lately I have caught a lot of speeders on Rt. 29 to help the residents of Collegeville Crossing.”
Now that he is working in Collegeville Borough, Nerlinger finds that he is truly happy.
“I love working here. The camaraderie is very good. All the officers support and respect one another. I enjoyed working for Chief Bucher and Chief Barnshaw is a great manager. I really look forward to coming to work every day. You cannot ask for a better group of guys," he said. “I have found that one of the unexpected aspects of working in the borough is that I have heard ‘thank you’ more in two years in Collegeville than in my prior 30 years.” We have a great community here!”
