Police Matters
911
-- not just for emergencies anymore
As of late 2011, Chief Kelly announced that 911 is
the number to call whenever you need dispatch. I recently
had such a situation where I did want an officer to show up, but
where no emergency was involved. It was difficult to push
the buttons after so many years of training not to use 911
except for dire emergencies . I apologized on the phone &
made sure it was OK and they assured me that yes, anytime you
need an officer to be sent, 911 is the correct number . So
that's the information I have as of this writing . Also, I
understood one person to say that there may not be any permanent
record of calls made to the regular police station number. So
with 911 there will be a record of the calls made . If you
want a record otherwise of your contact, you might want to
follow it up with an email.
Burglaries -
Notification of nearby neighbors.
Whether nearby residents
are being notified and being debriefed after burglaries , so that all
of those who might have seen something have an opportunity to
share that information, has been an on -going issue. The police have a very different policy then
what most residents might expect or prefer to see, according to the
informal discussions I have had with Township residents
and with the police . It is my understanding after these
discussions that each case individually is in the hands of
someone who decides whether neighbors should be questioned
or informed ----or not. I sure know that I ( and
virtually everyone I've spoken to ) would like to be informed in
ALL cases.
If you are interested in holding a meeting with your neighbors,
I would be glad to
join you - on this or on other issues . Perhaps by getting together in this manner we can
find a unified view and work together with our police on this
issue of great importance.
Burglaries and
other crimes - Getting information on the when an where
- To learn of the burglaries & crimes that
have been logged in our Township, go to
http://www.abingtonpd.org/crime-maps.html and
enter the information . As of 1-12 this expensive website is
sowing compatibility problems with certain computer
platforms - You can notify them on that page
and please also notify
us so we can help follow up. Also while I
appreciate having the search - there is not a search option that
shows all crimes together - without selecting them individually
. You can also independently
see information for assaults / or burglaries/ or arson/ or
robberies - so that's a huge step up -- but it would be
easier to just click on a single page that listed them all in a
list by year . . Please share the news of this resource with
your neighbors and
share your ideas about format with us.
Enforcement of
Township Codes -
A perennial problem has been enforcement of codes -
parking, barking, noise, lights, litter, solicitors, etc
- which is done ( at least in part, if not entirely ) by the
police once the code department has instituted the codes.
If you have such an issue please
contact us & share
your problems and ideas for solutions.
____________________
This site is a forum for information sharing and idea sharing.
Please feel free to
send your view and please be sure to tell us
about any information you believe to be incorrect - write
lel@abingtoncitizens.com
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