FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 11, 2008
Cunningham Proposes “Safe Streets” Program to Put Community Police on the Streets in Lehigh County
Cunningham proposes grants to Lehigh County municipalities to pay for community police, Creation of Regional Crime Data Center
(Center Valley, PA):
Lehigh County Executive Don Cunningham today announced an innovative new
program designed to put more police into Lehigh County’s communities and
combat crime head-on in the county’s highest-crime areas. Cunningham
made the announcement as part of his 2008 State of Lehigh County
Address.
“Crime costs Lehigh County taxpayers about
$1.1 million per week, or 65 cents on every tax dollars, and, under
Pennsylvania’s system, it’s all spent on crime and criminals after a
crime occurs,” said Cunningham. “We want that to change.”
The program, known as “Safe Streets,” establishes a $1 million fund to
pay for half of the cost of designated community police officers in
municipalities who submit a community policing plan for a particular
neighborhood or downtown area. Police officers under this initiative
would have to work most shifts during the high crime hours of 3:00 to
11:00 PM, and patrol on bicycle or on foot, based out of a community
substation.
“Community policing works,” said Cunningham. “It worked in New York City in the 1990’s, and it worked in Bethlehem in 2000. The presence of a cadre of community police officers on foot and on bicycles will do more than another office building to bring people back downtown.”
In addition, as part of the county’s focus on public safety, Cunningham vowed to support and fund the creation of Pennsylvania’s first regional crime data center. With a feasibility study already complete, the center will consolidate all police operations and crime data in the Lehigh Valley. Through the new crime data center, any incident report or information on a perpetrator or a crime would instantly flow from the various police departments into one central repository where county crime analysts would help local police departments identify patterns, solve crime and take criminals off our streets.
The regional crime data center builds on the concept of Lehigh County’s
newly-opened central booking facility, housed in the Lehigh County
Prison. All bookings in Lehigh County are now handled at the prison by
county personnel, not only creating a uniformed system of booking but,
more importantly, getting officers back on the street to fight crime
instead of spending hours doing bookings.
To supplement the rest of Lehigh County’s public safety agenda, Lehigh
County is underway on a new 9-1-1 Communication Center in a new location
next to the Government Center, complete with GPS system to track cell
phone calls and a full reverse 9-1-1 capability to blast information out
to emergency responders in the event of an emergency.
Cunningham also renewed Lehigh County’s five-year commitment to keeping
property tax rates stable through 2011 by managing well and maintaining
appropriate cash reserves.
Besides the increased focus on public safety, and renewing his commitment to holding tax rates stable, Cunningham also noted that economic development in Lehigh County and the Lehigh Valley remained strong in spite of tough economic times nationwide. The Lehigh Valley had the hottest job market in Pennsylvania in 2007, adding 7,500 new jobs last year. Housing prices remained largely stable, and unemployment remains below 5%, generally considered full employment.
Contact:
Frank Kane
(610) 782-3001