By Jeff Horvath
The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
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PHILADELPHIA — Col. Christopher L. Paris, commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, will retire from that role early next month after accepting a position with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Wednesday.
Shapiro nominated Paris, a Dunmore resident, Scranton native and the former commander of the Blooming Grove state police barracks, to serve as commissioner in January 2023, with the state Senate unanimously confirming him in March of that year.
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“Since then, PSP has strengthened statewide operations, expanded staffing, and modernized public safety capabilities to better serve communities across the Commonwealth,” per a Shapiro administration news release.
It notes that Lt. Col. George L. Bivens, the current deputy commissioner of operations, will be named acting commissioner effective Dec. 31, ensuring continuity of leadership ahead of Paris’ effective state police retirement date, Jan. 2.
Shapiro lauded Paris, noting he’s served the state “with the utmost integrity and distinction for 26 years, leading one of the largest police agencies in the nation while strengthening accountability and improving public trust.”
“Colonel Paris has overseen some of the most difficult investigations, cases, manhunts, and events — and his leadership has helped ensure the Pennsylvania State Police remains the finest law enforcement agency in the nation. I am grateful for his service,” Shapiro said in the release. “Lieutenant Colonel Bivens is a seasoned, respected leader with decades of experience who will step in and lead the State Police with steadiness and resolve, ensuring the agency does not miss a beat.”
Under Paris’ leadership and with the governor’s support, the state police have “played a central role in reducing violent crime while ensuring troopers have the resources they need to respond quickly and effectively to incidents,” the release notes.
Paris began his career with the state police in May 1999 and worked outside Philadelphia. He rose through the ranks, becoming sergeant in 2006 and lieutenant in 2010, and was assigned in 2013 as the lieutenant in charge of the Blooming Grove barracks in Pike County, according to newspaper records.
Gunman Eric Matthew Frein ambushed the rural barracks in September 2014 and shot at two troopers with a rifle, killing Cpl. Bryon K. Dickson II and seriously wounding Trooper Alex Douglass.
Paris, then a lieutenant, had been asleep in Dunmore for about a half hour the night of Sept. 12, 2014, when his phone rang with news that “something bad is going on at the Grove,” he said in a 2015 interview. He reached the barracks 32 miles from his home by 11:50 p.m., just 30 minutes after receiving the call.
Frein, captured following a 48-day manhunt, was tried and found guilty in 2017. He was sentenced to death and remains on death row, though former Gov. Tom Wolf implemented and Shapiro has continued a moratorium on the death penalty in Pennsylvania.
Paris helped lead the barracks through the aftermath of the Frein attack.
“I’m always worried about our people,” Paris told the newspaper in 2023. “It’s a constant worry. I know the work they do every day. Every domestic we respond to, every crime we investigate.”
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