Tim Wisniewski discusses the safety ambassadors with Lt. Zaffino and Officer Andrews
The PSA meeting was held Thursday night at Aria Health. If you read only that first line you would think we were all getting together for a prostate check. No wonder so many guys were there.
Seriously though, PSA in this instance refers to patrol sector area of the 15th district of the police department. PSA number one is the area that covers Frankford and Bridesburg. The meeting gives citizens an opportunity to talk with the police about what is going on, in their neighborhood and on their block.
If some slime sucker has decided to sell drugs on your doorstep, you can talk to the Lieutenant and he’ll tell you what can be done and what he’ll do and he’ll give you his email address. That’s what the meeting last night was about.
Lt. Zaffino runs a very good meeting. He asks everybody what is on their mind and then provids answers. There is not always a easy solution but over the last few months, I’ve seen that he has done things that have helped people who attend this meeting.
I don’t report details of the issues discussed at these meetings to protect the identities of the people who attend. However, Tim Wisniewski of the Frankford Special Services District discussed the positive impact the safety ambassadors are having on the avenue.
If you have a problem, show up at the next PSA meeting for Frankford which is on August 10th at 7 PM at Aria Health, second floor conference room. This is your best shot at talking to somebody who can get things done.
There was an online police site where you could report illegal activity in your neighborhood and remain anonymous, if you were afraid of the neighbors you were reporting. These website reports, I was told, were discussed during roll-call at the beginning of each police shift by the police Sargent or Captain. You could also report L&I issues online thru the L&I website. Now that we have 311 these websites are no long available to people. I feel the website reporting is much more effective that having these PSA meetings once in a while. In a crowd of maybe 20 people how can you possibly hear everyones complaints? In addition some people may be afraid that the neighbors they want to report for illegal activity are at the PSA meeting or have friends at the meeting.
I agree that there should be a web page for people to use that give a better level of anonymity. There is a tips page for those that can find it. Not everybody is on the web to find these things though. The PSA meetings are great for those folks. http://www.phillypolice.com/forms/submit-a-tip
The PSA meetings are regular now and you do have the satisfaction of talking to the officer in charge. That Lt. is the one on the line and responsible for the local PSA. He does go around the room and asks everyone, even me who just covers the news, what they want to report.