County rebuffs anti-crime pleas

By Darryl R. Isherwood

The Morning Call

April 25, 2008

Despite pleas from a group of police and elected officials, Lehigh County commissioners have rejected a measure to restore funding for community policing grants to put officers in high-crime areas.

In opposing the motion to restore $1 million in funding cut from the administration's anti-crime bill earlier this month, the commissioners said Wednesday they plan to hold hearings to determine if the money could be better spent on other law enforcement efforts.

''Where are our limited resources going to get the most bang for the buck?'' asked Commissioner Andy Roman, who cited comments from two deputy sheriffs that Lehigh is the only county in the state that still arms its officers with revolvers. ''[Do we] put five or six officers on bicycles or give our deputies semiautomatic weapons?''

The commissioners' resistance did not sit well with police officers, who told the board the program would go a long way toward making the streets safer.

''I believe community police A would make a great impact,'' said Catasauqua Police Chief Douglas Kish, who heads the county police chiefs association.

Kish said as many as 11 departments throughout the county are interested in the grant in hopes of funding 13 new officers.

''Even if it is just one officer [in a neighborhood], those 13 in a county this size would make a considerable difference.''

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski and City Council President Michael D'Amore also spoke in favor of the grant, saying Allentown is in dire need of more police officers.

''It is important for the cities and urban areas of this county to have all of the police we can muster,'' D'Amore said. ''It is very simple ... we need more police for the city of Allentown.''

The proposal, dubbed ''Safe Streets'' by District Attorney James Martin and County Executive Don Cunningham, would provide $1 million over the next three years to put more police on the street. All of the county's cities, townships and boroughs would be eligible for the matching grant if they could prove a need for a community officer.

Cunningham and Martin proposed the grant as part of an overall $4 million crime package that would provide funds for a countywide records management system and one year's funding for a bi-county crime data center in conjunction with Northampton County.

Commissioners introduced the measure earlier this month, but slashed the funding for Safe Streets from $1 million to $1. At the time, the Republican majority said while they are in favor of crime prevention, they wanted more information on the benefits of community policing before allocating the money.

The commissioners approved the other components of the bill Wednesday, but refused to budge on the Safe Streets funding.

Some commissioners have said the money is far too little to make a dent in the county's crime rate.

''Those of us commissioners who put the [brakes] on this line item are well aware of the risk of being painted as not supportive of the police or of crime prevention,'' Roman said in an e-mail to The Morning Call.

''But nothing could be further from the truth. The fact that we are serious about this crime issue requires us to do our 'due diligence' and not rubber-stamp an initiative that may only be window dressing and not actually accomplish what is being advertised.''

Roman said he is planning to hold three hearings on the proposal in the coming weeks before the commissioners decide how to proceed.

After the vote, Pawlowski criticized the commissioners for what he said was their refusal to collaborate with local law enforcement. ''I find it sad that the county is not participating in the collaborative efforts that others have been participating in for years,'' he said.

darryl.isherwood@mcall.com 610-820-6533

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