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WILKES-BARRE — Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis held her annual crime watch meeting on Tuesday evening, offering an insight into what her office is doing to rid the county of crime and to let the residents know their voices are being heard.
“It’s important for you guys to know what law enforcement is doing in your communities,” Salavantis during the meeting at the county Courthouse. “It’s important to be transparent and share information.”
“When I first took office, the community was asking the police to be more involved,” Salavantis added. “Here we are years later asking the community to get more involved. You are our eyes and ears. You help with these investigations and solve crimes.”
Salavantis praised Wilkes-Barre City Police Chief Joseph Coffay for the partnerships he’s created to help reduce crime in the city before she invited him to speak in front of residents.
“We have had a very active crime watch for a long period of time,” said Coffay. “You guys are our eyes and ears out there. We only have so many officers. These days our officers are very busy.”
Coffay said the Wilkes-Barre City Police Department averages 4,000 calls of service per month, which averages out to 350 crimes a month.
“We can’t be everywhere, that’s why crime watches are very important,” the chief added. “Most of our officers go from call to call.”
Coffay stressed the importance of residents installing cameras indoors and outside their residences.
“You don’t know how many times in the past we’vc been able to take information from the camera on a home,” the chief noted. “When a major crime happens in a neighborhood, we look to see who has cameras. We’ve solved everything from criminal mischief all the way to murder from their help.”
The Wilkes-Barre City Police Department has taken a proactive approach in designating its headquarters as an internet purchase exchange location for people making transactions on Craigslist, eBay and other services.
“People have gone for meetups and have been robbed of their item or robbed of the money they were going to pay for that item,” said new Wilkes-Barre City community policing officer Kirk Merchel. “If you don’t feel safe meeting up a certain location, come to headquarters.”
In his new role meeting with the city’s various crime watches, Merchel stressed the importance of the open line of communication between the police and the community.
“It’s very important,” he said. “I am trying to break down the barrier for people who don’t feel comfortable about talking to the police. Sometimes people are nervous or scared to talk to us. We need your help.”
Dan Mimnaugh, coordinator of the Luzerne County Drug Task Force spoke about his experiences in law enforcement and how the county’s drug task force acts as a force multiplier.
“In my experiences, law enforcement used to fight about their areas and territory,” he mentioned. “I’ve never seen more cooperation from law enforcement agents at the federal, state and local levels then I do today. We don’t care who makes the arrest as long as it gets done.”
Mimnaugh also mentioned Salavantis newly created second-chance pre-arrest drug program, a program he said the DA received a national award for in Harrisburg early Tuesday.
“If an officer arrests someone who is an addict, they can refrain from filing charges if the offender completes a 90-day detox program,” he said. “If the person completes it, charges won’t be filed. If not they will be arrested. This program give people another chance.”
County detective Chaz Balogh took a more interactive approach in speaking with concerned citizens in the court room, having each person move behind the judge’s bench to see him and his partner at work.
Balogh and his K-9 partner Spike, who is one of 31 police dogs in the country trained in electronic detection, went around the courtroom sniffing out hard drives, USB’s, cellphones and memory cards.
“He’s food-driven. His heart rate goes up,” Balogh said of his canine partner. “I feed him to reinforce that he’s doing a good job. I’ll give him food at the spot he found something we are looking for.”
“He can clear rooms a lot faster,” he added. “He’s found devices like hidden cameras that we wouldn’t have been able to find.”
