Tag: Captain John McCloskey

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Captain McCloskey at the Frankford Civic

Captain John McCloskey, commander of the 15th police district, spent almost the entire hour of the Frankford Civic association taking questions and giving frank answers.  The Town Hall meeting back on September 19th appears to have activated a lot of people.  There were 38 attending the meeting on Thursday, October 3rd which included many new folks.photo(1)

  • He apologized for the fact that there were no police at the recent PSA meeting.
  • Slow police response time for 911 calls is a reality which McCloskey says is the result of needing more cops.  7 new officers are due from the next graduating class which will help.  Lower priority goes to quality of life issues so sometimes you are going to wait quite a while before you see an officer.
  • Foot patrols have been cut back due to the lack of manpower.
  • Worth Street between Margaret and Orthodox is a hot spot that is on his list.  Drug activity is ongoing with many out of state cars coming to do business.
  • There has been some improvement on the 4700 block of Griscom due to recent arrests.
  • If you feel you have not bee treated properly by one of his officers, you should contact him directly.  He wants to know.

Some residents who met at the town hall and psa meetings are organizing together on common issues and to support the police.  The group may lobby for more police in the 15th, ask for more video cameras at crime locations, go to SEPTA and the city for better lighting under the el, find out why SEPTA police do not do more patrolling of the area around the el stops, have L&I inspectors go out on weekend inspections with the police of problem bars, etc.

Captain McCloskey says the best thing you can do to help the police is to supply information.  You identity will remain anonymous.  You can call the district at 215-686-3150.  Ask for Captain McCloskey.

The next meeting of the Frankford Civic Association will be on November 7th at 7PM at Aria Hospital.

 

 

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Captain McCloskey at the PSA1 Meeting

A large crowd greeted Captain John McCloskey at the PSA1 meeting at Aria Hospital on Thursday night.  He clearly knows the geography of Frankford crime.  All categories of crime are down in the 15th district with the exception of burglary.

On some specific issues:

  • Foot patrols which had been going all the way down to Church Street and now ending at Orthodox Street.  The reason is that the crime drives the patrols.  He concentrates manpower where the crime has been.
  • Residents asked why the Subway and other take out food stores are open all night.  If they are located in a commercial area there is no legal reason that they can be shut down.  Those that are in residential areas are seeing the police come in if they are open after 11PM.
  • They are continuing to keep the pressure on the prostitution in the area.  There have been stings set up to arrest the users of the service and this is a big deterrent since they money and car of the guy soliciting the prostitute are confiscated and usually not returned for a month.  Prostitutes arrested will only be held and then released the next day.
  • The dollar store next to McDonalds is used by drug dealers.  The police are aware of this and dealing with it.
  • Residents of the 4700 block of Griscom Street discussed the drug problem on that block.
  • Northwood residents discussed the problem with squatters on the 1200 block of Arrott Street.  The captain was familiar with the issue and had been there to investigate.  Based on information provided by the residents, they will make another visit soon.
  • Folks from the Mayfair Town Watch asked for more patrols up between Princeton and Bleigh on Frankford Ave.  The homeless, prostitutes and drug users are getting out of hand.  They believe that the pressure down here in Frankford may be driving some of the traffic further up into Mayfair.  The captain said he would look at deploying some manpower to deal with the situation.

The next meeting of PSA1 will be on September 26th at 7PM at Aria Hospital.

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Captain McCloskey Attends Frankford Civic

captain mccloskey

Captain John McCloskey

15th police district Captain John McCloskey attended the Frankford Civic Association meeting for the first time on Thursday, January 10th.  There were over 30 residents in attendance to hear him speak.  He was knowledgeable about the hot spots in Frankford as he went down the list of problems that have been encountered.  The bar at Pratt and Frankford Avenue is in his sights for the drug and weapons violations that have occurred.  4721 Oxford Avenue has issues with weapons and alcohol.  The take out beer joints are violating their working hours and he is seeking enforcement action against some of them.  He intends to introduce more bike cops by the Spring time.  He is bringing in vice to push back on the prostitution.

There were two zoning issues on the agenda.  Owners of 5029 Charles Street need a variance to legalize an existing wall around their property.  The civic voted to support the variance.

The application for a day care at 1829 Filmore had been discussed at a previous meeting.  No presentation was made by the owners at that time.  The owners were present at the meeting on the 10th but had not advised the civic that the wanted to make a presentation.  They will be invited back for a future meeting.  Their intention is to provide day care service in that area of Frankford which they believe is underserved at present.

Jason Dawkins on behalf of Councilwoman Sanchez office, was asked about the zoning issue  at 1709 Gillingham Street where an auto repair business is located.  The zoning issue was for the approval of an 8 foot high fence which the civic voted to support.  The neighbors are complaining about the traffic resulting from the use of the property for auto repair which is legal.  Jason offered to organize a community meeting where the residents and property owners can get together to work out a solution.

The Frankford NAC will be holding a zoning meeting to discuss two zoning issues at the 2nd Baptist Church on Thursday January 17th at 7PM.  See this link for more information.

Pete Specos, who is on the board of the Northwood Frankford Community Y spoke about progress being made on bringing it back to life.  Electrical service is now back on.

Lou Grow representing Turning Points for Children announced that there will be a community forum to introduce their service on February 13th at the Tacony Baptist Church.

The next meeting of the Frankord Civic Association will be held on February 7th at 7PM at Aria Hospital.