Eric J. Kerchner is the Chief County Detective for the Monroe County Office of the District Attorney serving under the leadership of E. David Christine, Jr., District Attorney.

Chief Kerchner started his career in law enforcement immediately after graduating from Marple Newtown Sr. High School (Delaware County, PA) by joining the United States Army in 1973. He completed basic training at Fort Dix, NJ and graduated from the United States Army Military Police School at Fort Gordon GA.

Chief Kerchner served as a military police officer in Butzbach, Germany for the next three years, initially as a patrol officer and then as a traffic accident investigator after attending Northwestern University’s Military Police Traffic Accident Investigation School in Vilseck, Germany in 1975. While in the military, Chief Kerchner completed additional law enforcement training while attending the University of Delaware and Central Texas College.

Beginning in 1982, Chief Kerchner established and operated a Monroe County based private security and investigations firm, Kerchner Associates, Inc., with annual revenues of 1.4 million dollars and employing more than 70 officers. That company was sold in 1998. Chief Kerchner operated as a private investigator through 2001.

In 2001, Chief Kerchner was retained as a special investigator by the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office focusing on housing mortgage fraud. In 2002, he was appointed as a full time detective.

Chief Kerchner attended and completed police academy training at Lackawanna College. Over the years, Chief Kerchner received specialized narcotics training with the Middle Atlantic Great Lakes Organized Crime Law Enforcement Network (MAGLOCLEN), the Pennsylvania Narcotics Officers Association (PNOA), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and the Montgomery County, PA Drug Task Force. In 2006, he received the Monroe County Drug Task Force Officer of the Year award and in 2007, Chief Kerchner received the Pennsylvania Narcotic’s Officers Association’s Unit Citation Award.

In 2009, Chief Kerchner was promoted to the position of Chief County Detective.

Chief Kerchner is the coordinator for the Monroe County Drug Task Force and is a representative for the Northeastern Pennsylvania Insurance Fraud Task Force and the Auto Theft Task Force. He is also the county representative for MAGLOCLEN and the National White Collar Crime Center (NWC3), a member of the Pennsylvania Narcotics Officers Association, the County Detective’s Association of Pennsylvania, and the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators.

Chief Kerchner resides in Monroe County with his wife , Gloria. Both of his children, Michael and Suzanne, are graduates of Pleasant Valley High School and reside in the area with his three grandchildren.

Chief Kerchner can be contacted by calling (570) 517-3109, or by email at ekerchner@monroecountypa.gov.