On October 9, 1998, Stuart J. Woods was sworn in as the first Chief of Police for the Richland Township Police Department.  Richland Township did not have a police department up until October 9, 1998.  Chief Woods was tasked with starting this new police department, which would take several months before any police officers were on the street patrolling the township.  Chief Woods was given the go ahead to hire 3 other officers to start the department, with their salaries being covered by grants for the first few years.  Chief Woods hired a patrolman from Quakertown Borough Police Department, Larry Cerami in January of 1999.  Chief Woods and Officer Cerami would begin patrolling in February of 1999.  Cerami would be the successor as Chief, when Woods fell ill and passed away.  Cerami had 17 years of experience. Then the Chief hired a patrolman from Pennridge Regional Police Department, John Burke, in April of 1999.  Burke had over 10 years of experience when he was hired and eventually became the Detective for the department.  The last officer to be hired was Richard Ficco, who eventually would become the third chief of the Richland Township Police Department.  Ficco was working in the Juvenile field, but had over 10 years of experience as a patrol officer.  We say the last officer in jest, because the original plan was for the department made up of 4 officers for at least 5 years.  By the end of 1999, two more officers were added.  One of those officers would be one of our current Corporals, Matt Mergen.

On March 4, 2003, Stuart J. Woods fell ill while doing what he loves, teaching children about making the right choices.  Stu was a  DARE officer for years in the Pennridge School System, before coming to Richland.  Becoming Chief did not stop him from teaching.  Unfortunately, Stu succumbed to his illness at the age of 39.  He led the department for four years, and when he passed the department had 9 officers.  Chief Woods left behind a wife and 4 children.

On October 29, 2005, the department moved into what was once the Bucks County Library building.  The building was retrofitted and added onto to create a state of the art police station, which the township could grow into for several decades.  The building was dedicated to and named after Chief Stuart J. Woods!  There is a display in the lobby dedicated to Chief Woods.