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WILKES-BARRE — It’s a simple task to lessen crime: Lower the demand for drug use and the dealers will go someplace else, said Paul Lindenmuth, an associate professor of criminal justice at King’s College.
Lindenmuth, a retired police detective in Bristol Township who has been teaching at King’s College since 1998, said drug trafficking and violence go hand-in-hand.
With six shootings that resulted in two people killed and six others injured in Wilkes-Barre within the last three weeks, Lindenmuth said the city, law enforcement and state and federal agencies need to aggressively tackle the problem of escalating violence.
Mayor Thomas Leighton said during a news conference earlier this week that a few but not all of the recent shootings occurred on or near rental proprieties.
Lindenmuth said the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development can do more enforcement such as providing funding to create a police substation at Sherman Hills, a private apartment complex owned by Sherman Hills Holding LLC of Teaneck, New Jersey, an affiliate of Treetop Development.
“There needs to be more activity with HUD dealing with the clientele that are there. HUD has the ability to provide funding to provide some type of law enforcement that works in that area,” Lindenmuth said, quickly noting that most residents of Sherman Hills and Interfaith Heights are law-abiding tenants.
Sherman Hills Holding LLC reportedly has no plans to build a guard shack at the entrance of the apartment complex, as proposed by the apartment complex’s former owner, Sherman Hills Realty, in 2013.
Lindenmuth said those law-abiding tenants in Section 8 housing become victims themselves who fear retaliation if it becomes known they cooperated with police.
Leighton has urged rental property owners, such as Sherman Hills and Interfaith Heights, to monitor and possibly register visitors.
“A lot of times what we see, you’ll see a single female go on a lease, maybe with their children. We find out later down the road other people start staying in the apartment. That’s where we run into problems,” Police Chief Robert Hughes said earlier this week.
‘One strike’ used
Leighton said the city’s one strike ordinance has been an “excellent tool” with police with several apartment units being shut down for six months.
“That one strike ordinance has helped me as mayor and the police department,” Leighton said. “It has put landlords on notice. If you’re going to rent to bad people, expect to lose your property for six months.”
Lindenmuth said high unemployment, lack of high paying jobs and dilapidated properties all contribute to higher crime. He suggested all the agencies in the city combine forces to tackle run-down properties.
“It’s called the broken window syndrome,” Lindenmuth said. “If the city allows it to occur, if the property owner isn’t taking care of the property, it invites crime.”
Leighton said preliminary investigations of each of the eight recent shootings involved victims and suspects who are not permanent residents of Wilkes-Barre.
Lindenmuth noted the high demand for drugs equates to a decent income, despite it being illegal.
“A young drug dealer out of Philadelphia can make a decent living, up to $1,000 a week,” Lindenmuth said. “Up here, a decent house in Wilkes-Barre can cost $30,000 and they pay that in cash. They don’t care what it looks like, if it has any water, electrical or other utility service. They use it to sell drugs and it soon becomes an eyesore.”