Sargeant Ammons lead the PSA1 meeting on April 16th at Aria Hospital. Discussion centered on strategies rather than specific problem areas.
The recent shooting death at Penn and Arrott Sts. was drug related.
Residents concerns about the proposed Crown Fried Chicken store at Oxford and Griscom are driven by the fear that a business keeping late hours will attract violence and drug and alcohol users. Pete Specos, representing the Frankford Civic Association, has been in contact with the store owner’s representative. They have indicated that they were looking to have their zoning case continued in hopes of gaining community support. Both the Frankford Civic and the Frankford NAC have voted to oppose the variance for the store.
One resident pointed out that the building at 4651 Frankford Avenue is being used as a teen club opening at 10PM on the weekends. This address has been the location of similar problems in the past. See our previous report here.
Another resident reported suspicious cars parked on the 4700 block of Penn Street. Sargent Ammons gave direction on how to handle that problem.
Sam, owner of the Sugar and Spice at Frankford and Foulkrod, demonstrated his new video security system. With over 10 modern video cameras, it can be accessed over the internet and is available to the Philadelphia Police for use at this very challenging location. It is clear enough to read the license plate on a car at a distance.
Sargeant Ammons mentioned that the foot patrol officers now walking the beats along Frankford Avenue and the side streets are being trained on bicycle patrol and ass soon as all have been through that training we will start seeing the bikes on the street. Those bike patrols will great enhance response time on the officers.
The next PSA1 meeting will be held at Aria Hospital on May 14th at 7PM.
