Joe McCombs

Joe McCombs has been in law enforcement for more than three decades.

Now he has his eye on a different role: magistrate district judge.

With District Judge Wayne Seibel retiring after 18 years in his position in Evans City, McCombs, who is chief of the Evans City-Seven Fields Regional Police, thinks it would be a good transition if he were to be elected to a six-year term.

“I've considered it for quite a few years, and now this is my eligibility for retirement year,” McCombs said. “I've always had that goal in mind, of possibly leaving law enforcement and getting into something a little different.”

It would be a move to an adjacent job — although magistrates are independent from police departments — but McCombs recognizes it would be a different ball game.

“It's basically a continuation of what I'm doing now, just in a whole different format,” he said.

One benefit of his policing experience — beyond the firsthand knowledge of the system — is his familiarity with the different departments that file in the Evans City court. McCombs said he's worked with both Jackson and Lancaster township police in addition to Evans City.

The chief also touted his experience with other forms of public service, saying he has been involved with the fire department and youth sports as well as helping with the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program at Seneca Valley School District schools.

McCombs, a 31-year police officer, sees the potential role as a natural progression of his experience.

“I would compare this as a stepping stone,” he said. “One of the comparable things, in my opinion, would be going from an EMT to a paramedic, from paramedic to going to a nursing school. It's climbing the ladder. I've got experience in the field, it's just a different level of what they're expected to do.”