By Roberta Burkhart
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
HEIDELBERG, Pa. — Heidelberg Police Chief Dennis Dixon was found dead inside his patrol car shortly before 9 p.m. Monday, authorities said.
Dixon, 57, of South Park, was on duty when his body was discovered near the 600 block of Grant Avenue in Heidelberg, according to a post from borough officials on social media.
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The post garnered an outpouring of condolences and remembrances from Facebook users who knew him.
Lifelong Heidelberg resident Alaina Iorio remembered Chief Dixon as “a really great man. He really cared about the residents in Heidelberg.”
Often seen patrolling the streets, Dixon would greet residents and “smile and wave at anyone he saw walking down the street or getting out of their car. He made that little neighborhood very safe from the moment he became chief,” Iorio said in a message to the Post-Gazette.
She remembers the first time she met him: “I was back in middle school, and I was getting bullied. He pulled me aside and had a very long heartfelt conversation with me.”
Dixon “really took his job serious and cared about the people he served,” she added.
Heidelberg is a tiny borough — just a little more than one-quarter square mile — located about 6 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. Its population during the 2020 census was just shy of 1,300 residents.
Dixon joined the department in 2008 and was promoted to chief in 2018.
No cause of death had been announced, and the Allegheny County Police Department is investigating.
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