Tag: PSA1

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New Captain in the 15th Police District

Captain Anthony Luca, newly minted Captain of the 15th Police District, attended the PSA1 meeting on March 24.  Captain Luca took over from Captain John McCloskey on March 20th, after being promoted the previous weekend.

Gary McLaughlin, President of the Frankford CDC welcomes Captain Luca to Frankford

Gary McLaughlin, President of the Frankford CDC welcomes Captain Luca to Frankford

He discussed his 20 years of experience in the Police Department in patrol, narcotics, Tactical team and SWAT and laid out some plans for the district.  He said it will be a building process but pledged that “you will see a reduction in crime”.

Lt. Gordon, just back from military service, discussed cell phone theft and noted that Philadelphia is at the top in the nation for this type of crime.  Since the crooks want to get your phone away from you while its in use so that it can be unlocked, walking down the street talking on a cell phone is an invitation to them to walk up and take it.  Be careful and street wise.

On the homicides on the 1600 block of Pratt Street, it remains under investigation so little information is being released to the public.

Officer Matt Crosson followed up on the last PSA meeting in Bridesburg:

  • The squatter problem on Dyre Street is being resolved.  The neighbor on the block confirms that that action has been taken.
  • The prostitution reports near Holy Redeemer Cemetery are being handled by vice.  The participants are not soliciting in that area but use it as a convenient location after they have met a customer elsewhere.

It has been resolved to hold every third PSA1 meeting in Bridesburg, so the April 28th meeting will be in Frankford but the May 26th meeting will once again be in Bridesburg.

Captain John McCloskey has moved on the a new assignment. We wish him good luck and good health.  I can speak from personal experience of having met him in the early morning hours investigating a homicide, that he was in every corner of Frankford.  Thank you for your service to Frankford.

 

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Good News Crime Stats 15th District PSA1

One resident asked on Facebook recently: Is it my imagination or are we having more shootings in Frankford?

I was working on the crime statistics for the year at the time and had just confirmed what is obvious.  Robbery and Aggravated Assault with firearms at reported from reports on OpenDataPhilly shows that combined they increased by 21% in 2015 compared to 2014.

The good news is that homicide declined by 46% and crime incidents overall went down by about 3%. Even burglary in total went down 3%.  Rape was not reported in 2014, so no comparison is possible.

See the details below:

crime

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No Holiday for Criminals in December

Mild weather in December was great for everybody including  criminals in PSA1 of the 15th District. Property crimes of burglary and theft from vehicles were up as the crooks too advantage of the good weather and open windows, to do there dastardly deeds.

You can see the detailed report at this link and below is a summary.  Look for these numbers to drop as the miscreants take some time off when the weather returns to its seasonal norm.

crime report

A word about this report is in order.  We take the data from OpenDataPhilly in raw form.  If you look closely at the details you will sometimes find things that look to be in error.  Its not too unusual to see an incident report followed shortly by another going to the same address for the same complaint.  We have no way to determine whether that is right or not, so we do not make any adjustments to the data.

There is a known flaw in the data when someone is shot and the crime is identified as aggravated assault. If the victim then dies at a later date, it remains on this report as aggravated assault.  There is no way for us to make that kind of correction.

If you want to find out more about crime and meet the police who patrol the PSA, come out to the next meeting at Aria Hospital on January 28th at 7PM.

 

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Burglary Prevention Tips at the PSA Meeting

15 Residents attended the 15th District PSA1 meeting on November 19th and were treated to a great presentation by Officer Kennelly on burglary prevention.  Burglary has been a significant problem in the past few months.  He noted that an arrest made in another district was connected to a string of burglaries in Northwood,  With the arrest of those perpetrators, the burglary rate has now gone down.

Preventing burglary is using a lot of common sense such as:

  • Lock your windows.
  • Trim bushes that block view of your windows.
  • Stop your mail if you go away.
  • Put a motion detector on your outdoor lighting.
  • Don’t announce you are going away on Facebook.
  • Keep a record of your serial numbers for your equipment.  It makes it possible to recover stolen property if its located at a pawn shop.

Officer Matt Crosson is filling in for Officer Jacobs as Community Relations officer.  He advised to be on guard against scammers who knock on your door and say they need to come in.  Always get identification and if you are not sure, call 911.

osa cops

Lt. Gordon, Officers Kennelly and Crosson

Joe Krause reported on the situation in Northwood:

  • The resident who is selling cars out of his house continues to park them all over the area around Foulkrod and Castor.  He takes up valuable parking space and is in violation of zoning in operating a business.
  • The area around Adams and Castor is filled with businesses who park their cars on the sidewalk.  If creates a hazardous condition since it forces pedestrians onto the street. Kids walk on those sidewalks to school.

Griscom street in the 5000 and 4700 blocks continue to harbor drug sales.

Lt. Gordon in response to whether there are beat cops, says that he encourages his officers to park and walk the block rather than cruise on through.  He trains his officers to get out and walk to see what is happening on foot.

The area around Harding Middle School is surrounded by parked 18 wheelers.  Is this legal?  The police say it is.  As long as parking is permitted, they can park there.  Joe Krause pointed out that Northwood worked with Councilwoman Sanchez office to get legislation passed by City Council to prohibit truck parking throughout Northwood.  The same could be done for this area of Frankford.

In response to the issue of “loosies” being sold at stores in Frankford, Lt. Gordon says this is an L&I issue.  That means a call to 311.  It will not be a high priority though and the fine for an offense like that is minor compared to the profits of selling them.  Minors are often those who are buying.

There will be a gun buy back on December 19th from 11 AM to 2 PM at the Engine 38 fire house at 4931 Magee Avenue sponsored by the 15th District PDAC (Police District Advisory Council).  Bring in a gun, rifle or shotgun and receive a $50 supermarket gift card.  No questions asked.  Bring your gun unloaded.

The next meeting of the 15th District PSA1 will be held on Thursday, December 17th at 7 PM at Aria Hospital.

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October Crime Report for the 15th District PSA1

Thanks to the folks at opendataphilly.org we have the crime report,  PSA1 includes the area from the Boulevard to the River between the Frankford Creek and Bridge Street.  That takes in Frankford and Bridesburg.

Theft from vehicles continues to be a problem as we move into the cooler weather.  October was the highest of the year with 55.  Burglary on the other hand went down.  Could it be that there are fewer open windows to attract burglars attention?  There was another homicide during the month.  There is a summary below and this is a link to the detail file that shows you where those thefts were.

Aug-15 Sep-15 Oct-15
Aggravated Assault Firearm 11 11 3
Aggravated Assault No Firearm 16 24 24
Burglary Non Residential 8 4 4
Burglary Residential 37 34 25
Homicide 0 1 1
Homicide – gross negligence 0 0
Motor Vehicle Recovery 21 17 19
Motor Vehicle Theft 8 9 11
Rape 9 3 1
Robbery Firearm 20 10 8
Robbery no Firearm 21 13 18
Theft 54 49 33
Theft from Vehicle 22 19 55
Total 227 194 202
days 31 30 31
Average per day 7.3 6.5 6.5

If you would like to do something about crime on your block, the Frankford Town Watch is continuing to organize.  There will be a training meeting on Wednesday, November 18th at 6 PM at St. Mark’s Church 4442 Frankford Avenue.  The Town Watch is focusing on Eyes and Ears.