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By WILLIAM SPECHT; Times Leader Staff Writer
Saturday, July 13, 1996 Page: 3A
WILKES-BARRE — Cooperation. That’s what Luzerne County Sheriff Carl
Zawatski and Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom McGroarty said Friday night’s police sweep
of South Wilkes-Barre showed.
Five sheriff’s deputies in three marked cars joined 14 marked city police
vehicles, two K-9 units, two motorcycle officers, and two bike patrol officers
in the second of the weekend sweeps set to run until August.
Seven other city police vehicles also were on the road performing their
routine patrols, McGroarty said.
“The sheriff came to us, asked if he could be of some help and gave us some
of his deputies,” McGroarty said. “We’re all working together.”
Zawatski was equally enthusiastic about him and his men helping with the
sweep.
“We’ll be available to him (McGroarty) for as long as he needs us,” said
Zawatski. “I said when I was elected that I’d be available to the local police
departments if they needed.”
“If we work together we can really do something,” Zawatski said.
McGroarty said the police are looking to reduce the amount of nuisance
crimes such as loitering, disorderly conduct, vandalism and littering within a
target area. The patrolling police also looked for traffic and motor vehicle
violations.
The sweeps will continue through August on Friday and Saturday nights,
McGroarty said.
McGroarty also said that as part of the sweeps city code enforcement
officers will also visit condemned houses in the city to make sure that no one
is in them. Occupants are allowed to retrieve personal belongings during the
daylight hours and must be out by 9 p.m., McGroarty said.
On Friday, McGroarty also unveiled a machine that shows drivers how fast
their vehicles are traveling. McGroarty said the Speed Monitor Awareness
Trailer (S.M.A.R.T.) is meant to alert people of their speed.
The S.M.A.R.T. machine, which is attached to a Wilkes-Barre Police
Department truck, was parked across the street from a suspected drug house,
McGroarty said.
“We’re trying to put a lot of stuff out there on the streets,” McGroarty
said. “The idea is to have people see this stuff and the deputies and say,
`Hey, these guys mean business.”‘
Zawatski said that as long as he has the manpower, he will make his
deputies available to any other municipalities that would like to perform
their own crime sweeps.
Zawatski said that in addition to deputies and the river rescue team, he
also has five drug-sniffing dogs and horse-mounted deputies available.
TIMES LEADER/DON CAREY
Wilkes-Barre police officer Don Crane gives a card with his picture on it
to 5-year-old Daryl Widder on Friday evening. Crane joined other city police
officers and Luzerne County Sheriff’s Department deputies in a patrol sweep of
South Wilkes-Barre Friday night.