Virgilio suggested that Bethlehem police should establish a crime map like Lower Saucon Tp "so that the public can know what's going on with crime and any kind of illegal activity that's taking place so they can determine whether it's close to home, take a stand with crime watch, be aware of it and also so they can be aware of the fact that our police are taking care of these problems."
This small business owner has obviously been rattled by another recent shooting, this one at the 540 Democratic Club on New Street.
Mayor Willie Reynolds stated in response that Bethlehem has had 150 officers for a number of years, but keeping those officers is a challenge. He said fewer people are taking the Civil Service test to replace retiring officers. He noted that six officers were hired a few months ago, and another six are in the police academy. He also said an arrest was made within 24 hours of the Ettwein Street shooting.
According to Bethlehem's webpage, there are 154 "members" of the Bethlehem police department. It is unclear how many of that number are officers.
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ReplyDeleteAmazing, Wee Willie actually spoke to a commoner.
ReplyDeleteThere is a crime map-
ReplyDeletehttps://www.ucr.pa.gov/PAUCRSPUBLIC/CrimeAnalytics/index.html
Why do I need to log into the UCR site? It was freely accessable before.
ReplyDeleteI'm unable to use that crime map. You have to be a registered user.
ReplyDeleteThe moral in the police department is at a all time low.
ReplyDeleteThe moral in any department that is in the criminal justice field is down. When you get SH-T on by everyone until the day they need you it sucks. But most good officers in any department also do it for that inner feeling of doing something for your community and self. Politicians are the worst will sit there and curse,put you down, not give raises. But when you do something good in the public eye they want thier arm around you for that picture.
DeleteThe moral in each department is at an all time low. Within the city that is.
DeleteBernie - Bethlehem is very far along in making data open to residents and others interested in statistics about the city. If this link - https://maps-bethlehem-pa.opendata.arcgis.com/ - doesn’t work, using the search “Bethlehem pa open data” will.
ReplyDeleteThe platform is built on the near-universal standard ArcGIS product. It’s the same product driving our two counties’ parcel databases, PennDOT mapping, etc. As of today we can see leaf collection, snow removal, historic districts and structures, and more. Nothing except an instruction from city management is preventing the publication of this dataset in a format anybody can access.
You can thank BLM, the Defund the Police movement and their Democrat allies for the mess every city in the country is in. The demonized police for years. Now everyone has cell phone cameras to record every police encounter. If the perp is black, it is now assumed that any arrest is racist profiling. Cops feel like they are walking on eggshells . No wonder recruitment numbers are down, and most cities have large vacancies on their police forces. And why gun sales keep climbing. Thank Bernie and his left-wing socialist fans for this disaster.
ReplyDeleteI believe crimemapping.com may be used by some neighboring municipalities that actually don’t just preach transparency, but live it, too. With the death of newspapers and the police blotter, the public is kept in the dark regarding actual crime statistics. Major violence is low, but what about petty larceny, drunk driving, and things like that? City Council wants an ignorant public because the dumbing down of America means few questions are asked. The gentleman is right — there is no follow-up by any reporter and that, my friends, means there is zero accountability to the people. The people, however, have allowed that to happen.
ReplyDeleteWhy is the morale at the police department at a all time low?
ReplyDeleteRecently there was an article online about the Fire Department as well.
Delete@11:17 - I agree but it's because there are cameras everywhere and they are not able to inflict their brut force to anyone who questions them!
ReplyDeletePolice are upholders of white supremacy culture and never prevent crime, they cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in lawsuits ever year, and shame good cops when they dare cross the “thin blue line.”
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, I’d rather call a crackhead when I’m in trouble, at least they’ll approach the scene with compassion, and chances are I won’t get wrongfully arrested or even killed for being black.
You are really good at labeling people. And what do you say about cops that are black? Or the Asians? The Hispanics? Heck now a days there are lots from the Indian/Arabic countries.
DeleteLeft wing dems want to defund police--vote for the dems means only success.
ReplyDeleteReading the last few (ignorant) comments helps answer the question about morale. My gosh, people, you are impugning an entire group for the actions of a few.
ReplyDeleteBuzz off boomer, there is no such thing as a good cop when they’ll all complicit in corruption. And when police officers complain, they’re labeled as rats and traitors, no thanks. Tear the entire system down.
DeleteAh, the voice of a disgruntled lawbreaker whose utopia would be no law or order.
DeleteUtopia would be cutting the heads off of bootlickers like yourself who paint themselves as elitist but are one injury away from being homeless.
DeleteThe democrats left the left wing take over--the truth hurts.
ReplyDeleteCurrently 144 officers, minus 4 long term sick leave, minus 6 in the academy, minus 2 weekend warriors flying drones full-time out of willow Grove. Officers on the schedule = Low 130s.
ReplyDeleteThere are something like 50 crossing guards who are employed by the Bethlehem Police Dept. That may skew some of the numbers that some people use to describe police staffing.
ReplyDelete