Schweyer's Plan for Allentown

> Curtailing Rising Crime in Allentown

It is my firm belief that the fundamental purpose of any municipal government is to protect the public. Specifically, local governments must maintain a fully staffed, properly equipped and well trained professional police department, whose duty is to "protect and serve."

Currently, Allentown is undermanned. The exodus of some of our most senior police officers in 2005 and 2006 left us more than 50 officers under our typical staffing levels. Staff shortages were exacerbated by instability in the leadership ranks during the Afflerbach Administration, thus resulting in low morale and a disturbing distrust of our police department by Allentown's residents.

However, Allentown has access to resources that no individual thug or criminal organization can imagine. State funding, creative financing and new leadership have lead to a stabilization of our police force. More than 30 new police officers have been sworn in over the last 12 months, and City Council has agreed to hire 10 additional officers next year. These measures should begin to correct the errors made in recent years.

All of this being said, violent crime is still on the rise, criminal organized street gangs are terrorizing neighborhoods and robberies are becoming commonplace. Furthermore, nuisance crimes including vandalism, double parking and loitering are not being addressed as they should.

Violent Crime and Street Gangs

Background:
Much of the violent crime in Allentown is directly attributable to small number of criminal organizations and street gangs. These are highly organized and well disciplined groups that thrive on drugs, theft, intimidation and violence.

By knowing the people who are members of a street gang and discovering their identifiable marks (colors, clothing, tattoos, graffiti, etc) will allow our police to uncover the secrets of their organizational structure. This understanding is key to dismantling these street gangs.

By breaking up these gangs, we will see a significant reduction in the sensational crimes - murder and armed robbery - that have been all too prevalent in recent months and years.

The Schweyer Plan:
I believe that the Allentown Police Department must engage in a more direct and more sustained campaign of intelligence gathering. If elected to City Council, I will:

1. Demand that the APD ramp up their efforts on intelligence gathering through interrogation and community input;
2. Support the hiring of a clerk whose roll will be solely to create and maintain a database of general information about street gangs and known gang members;
3. Create a public anti-gang awareness and action initiative so neighbors who suspect gang activity and involvement can report it to the APD;
4. Engage neighborhood watch groups, members of local churches and other community groups in helping the APD in this effort; and
5. Work with Representative Jennifer Mann and other State officials to pass anti-gang legislation that would outlaw membership in street-gangs and create a dedicated revenue source for municipal police departments to fight these organizations.

Nuisance Crimes

Background:
Nuisance crimes impact our residents much like water torture: drop by drop it infuriates a person and causes them significant anguish. Graffiti, petty theft and vandalism typically does not cause a person significant monetary loss and rarely puts someone at bodily risk. However it drastically reduces the quality of life and eliminates the sense of security that everyone deserves.

It is almost impossible to eradicate these sorts of crimes; they exist in every community, large and small, poor and affluent, urban and suburban. However neighborhoods can take steps to decrease the number of these smaller crimes and reduce the likelihood that their neighborhood will be targeted.

The Schweyer Plan:
I believe that organization is important to curtail nuisance crimes. Furthermore, I believe that the APD must take these crimes seriously in order to prevent minor infractions from turning into a large-scale epidemic. If elected to City Council, I will:

1. Buoy our existing neighborhood watch groups by dedicating funding for their operations and creating websites supporting their efforts;
2. Encourage areas of our City with no neighborhood watch group to organize one;
3. Direct the APD to engage these groups by attending their meetings and addressing their concerns, and by giving those groups specific rolls and objectives; and
4. Creating a system to distribute crime-prevention information.

Conclusion

Our public safety is not simply the job of the Allentown Police Department or any other area of City Government: it is the responsibility of all homeowners, citizens and business owners. Together, I am fully confident that we will be able to reverse the trend of violent crime, reduce the amount of nuisance crimes and make the City a place where people choose to live, work and raise a family.