Patrolman M.J. Thomas has been employed by the Ross Police Department for the past twenty-eight years. Officer Thomas was hired as a Communications Officer on 10/01/79 and served in that post until 08/28/90 when, after testing he was transferred to the position of Patrolman.
Patrolman Thomas served in the Patrol Division from 08/90 until 03/00. In March of 2000 he was reassigned to the Special Programs Division.  As a Special Programs Officer he performs a number of duties including:
D.A.R.E. Instructor- Responsible for teaching the core program (6th grade) in two schools.  He also instructs the middle school program (8th grade) in the North Hills Junior High School and St. Sebastian’s Schools, with this program reaching over 500 students. 
Crime Prevention- Assists the community based crime prevention programs and provides “Officer Friendly” programs to the lower grades in elementary and pre schools located in the North Hills School District.
 In 2003 Officer Thomas tested and is now recognized as a Crime Prevention Specialist by the International  Crime Prevention Association.
In addition to the community based programs he is the Officer in Charge of the departments Evidence Division.  It is his responsibility to safeguard, log, and control all evidence or property that comes into the Ross Police Department’s possession.  It is the responsibility of Officer Thomas to ensure that certain types of evidence are tested at either the Allegheny County Crime Lab or the Pennsylvania State Police Crime Lab in Greensburg.  He is responsible to have any and all evidence available for criminal proceedings.  The evidence/property is maintained until such time as the Court gives permission to dispose, return, or forfeit the items.  He is responsible to see that Orders of the Court are carried out, and that all evidence is disposed of legally and properly.  In order to operate an efficient Evidence Room, it was purged and completely reorganized to comply with national Evidence Room standards.  All evidence and property is now logged using a state of the art bar coding system.
In 2005 Officer Thomas tested and is now recognized as a Certified Evidence Specialist.  He is one of nine Certified Evidence Specialists in the State. 
All juvenile files and related paperwork is maintained by Patrolman Thomas, including the filing of petitions with Juvenile Court and to update and expunge juvenile files per orders of the court. 
Another duty assigned, is the control of violations concerning false burglar alarms.  Patrolman Thomas logs all false burglar alarm calls and issues citations for violation of the ordinance.
Patrolman Thomas serves as the Department’s representative to the following organizations: The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.    He serves as an advocate for the Victims of Violent Crimes.    He represents the Ross Police Department by serving on the North Hills School District’s Safety Team and the Safe and Drug Free School Committee.  Officer Thomas represents the Department with the Northern Alliance for Highly Addictive drugs.
Patrolman Thomas is a member of the National and Pennsylvania DARE Officer’s Association, the Western Pennsylvania Crime Prevention Officer’s Association, and the International Evidence Officer’s Association.
During his career, Patrolman Thomas has received six departmental commendations and fourteen letters of recognition. Patrolman Thomas is married to his wife Julie for 25 years.  He has two children and has been a Ross Township resident since 1970.  His daughter, Kayla attends North Hills Senior High School, while his son Ryan attends the Junior High school.