HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Gov. Tom Wolf is appointing a 36-year veteran of the Pennsylvania State Police to head the agency and replace the retiring Col. Tyree Blocker.
Wolf’s announcement Thursday elevates Lt. Col. Robert Evanchick to acting commissioner.
Blocker came out of retirement from the force to take over in 2015, after the Republican-controlled Senate refused to confirm Wolf’s initial choice, Marcus Brown, Maryland’s former state police superintendent.
The 60-year-old Evanchick enlisted in the state police in 1981 after two years in Wilkes-Barre’s police Department. He has served as a station commander, troop commander and directed the department’s Bureau of Integrity and Professional Standards before Blocker promoted him to deputy commissioner of operations in 2017.
The Pennsylvania State Police is one of the nation’s largest police forces, with about 6,300 troopers and civilian employees and a $1.3 billion annual budget.
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