Officer David M. Petzold became an Upper Saucon Township Police Officer in October of 1996.  He served as a Patrol officer and for several years enjoyed teaching in the D.A.R.E program.  In 2001, he became the department's first Criminal Investigator and later a Detective.  As a result of his passion for criminal investigation, he pursued a career with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  In May of 2005, Officer Petzold joined the FBI, graduating from the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia.  He then served as a Special Agent assigned to the Newark, NJ office.  Officer Petzold loved his time with the FBI, however missed the Upper Saucon community and more importantly his family.  He resigned from the FBI, returning to the Upper Saucon Police in April of 2006 where he was assigned to patrol.  In the early hours of Thursday November 9, 2006, Officer Petzold was preparing to end his tour of duty when he located a deceased deer in the roadway causing a traffic hazard.  While attempting to remove the deer, he was tragically struck and killed by a passing vehicle.  

This tragic accident stunned the agency and the community, however tragedy brings opportunity.  The Officer David M. Petzold Memorial Foundation was created and in 2011, the foundation partnered with Lehigh County and DeSales University to open the Officer David M. Petzold Digital Forensics Laboratory of Lehigh County.  This state of the art facility was the first of its kind in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and will forever change policing in the area of digital forensics.  The lab has been instrumental in analyzing critical evidence which has aided in solving thousands of criminal cases to include several homicides. The lab is located on the campus of DeSales University in Center Valley and is staffed by specially trained officers from several police departments.  To date, the Foundation has contributed over $200,000 to lab.