Female Cop Makes Horsham History

Colleen Troxel is one of the elite.

Troxel, a Horsham Township police officer since 1999, made history Wednesday night when she was sworn in as the first female police administrator in the township’s history. 

“To rise up through the ranks is important,” said Troxel, who was promoted from sergeant to lieutenant.

Raised by her father, Larry Gerrard, a now-retired Philadelphia homicide cop, Troxel said she followed in his and her older brother’s law enforcement footsteps. Both were in attendance at the Horsham Township Council meeting Wednesday to congratulate Troxel in her history-making event.

“I’m thrilled,” Gerrard told Patch. “She’s good at what she does.”

Other police and township officials would agree. the call of duty. In particular, Troxel, who joined the Horsham Township Police Department in 1998 as a dispatcher, was recognized for helping to apprehend a suspected robber in 2010.  

Besides Troxel, the township’s police department employs one other female police officer, Sgt. Connie Johnson, according to Horsham Police Chief Robert Ruxton.

Ruxton, when looking around the room at all of the fellow police officers in attendance, said, "it just shows again how tight knit police departments are."

The department is "extremely proud and happy" to see Troxel advance to the next level, he said. 

By July 1, the police department will return to its full complement of 40 sworn officers with the addition of two new officers, Ruxton said. The new hires will fill vacancies left from two resignations last year.