Local police chief pulls out all the stops to Lock It Up

YEADON, Pa. (WTXF) - Lock it up. That's the message from one local police chief.

He's talking about your vehicle. And, he's getting the message out in a very creative way.

"It takes a couple of minutes every night. It makes me feel connected to the community," said Chief Paparo.

Clever social media posts every night since June, with one simple theme.

"Can't touch this cuz I just locked my car and stuff. Cuz it's mission lock it up time," Chief Paparo said.

Yeadon Police Chief Anthony "Chachi" Paparo clearly has a sense of humor.

"You didn't lock your car, so the cat took it," Chief Paparo laughed.

But, he's dead serious about his effort to cut down the number of easy car break-ins as a result of people leaving their doors unlocked.

"It's a very under reported crime," stated Chief Paparo.

Still, about 1,000 cases reported in the past few years in a borough of only about 11,000.

Chief Chachi has made it a mission to go after the victims. You can't escape his nightly reminders and free stickers.

"Some people get annoyed by it, which is kinda funny because they don't understand it and then some people tell me they check every night just to see what I'm going to come up with and they make sure they have locked their cars," Chief Paparo explained.

"Someone was in my car two times," said Gale Trent.

Trent says she won't forget to lock it up again, between the stickers that Chief Chachi delivered to her door and the nightly posts.

"Some of them are really hilarious. They're funny, they're things from the past," Trent said.

Speaking of something out of the past, Chief Chachi joined the police force in neighboring Upper Darby Township in 1985.

"One of the veteran officers looked at me and said 'Who's this little kid? He looks like Chachi from "Happy Days,"'" explained Chief Chachi.

It stuck.

He says he'll never give up patrolling the street and tweeting out ways to connect with and serve the public.

After 32 years serving on the Upper Darby force, Chief Chachi Paparo has returned home, sort of. His father served on the Yeadon Police force for years. Chief Paparo can be reached @ChiefChachi_YPD.