A Lehigh County community has a new police chief and two new lieutenants.

Former state police station commander Edgardo Colon was sworn in Monday morning as the new chief of the Upper Macungie Police Department.

The department was formed after township officials voted earlier this year to break off from the Berks-Lehigh Regional police force.

Colon and the two lieutenants are officially on the job, and the patrol of the township will be handed over on January 1.

Colon says there is a lot of work to do between now and then, but he is confident the department will be ready.

"It's not just as simple as having police officers, uniforms, cars and equipment," Colon said.  "We also have a large amount of administrative things that have to be put in place. I'm pretty optimistic that we are going to be ready to go on January one."

More than two dozen officers will be on patrol starting next year.

Colon says most of the officers have been hired already.