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Hooliganism.
It’s a word you don’t hear very often, but it’s the perfect way to describe what’s been happening in a certain area of Hazleton.
The city’s police force, led by Chief Jerry Speziale, has had enough.
They are now going all out to re-establish law and order as witnessed by a Friday crackdown, and we applaud the effort.
The area that’s become synonymous with trouble is about a five-block stretch of Alter Street and some spillover onto adjacent streets and alleys.
One of our editors who is from the Hazleton area recently witnessed firsthand the kind of nonsense police are trying to wipe out.
It was about 5 p.m. a few Mondays ago, and as he turned onto Alter from a side street, he heard the very loud revving of multiple dirt bikes (definitely not street legal) and at least one ATV.
Gathered on several street corners where dozens of people yelling and rooting on the bike and quad riders as they lined up and began racing down Alter, coming within inches of vehicle traffic as they weaved their way down the blocks and performed wheelies.
When one of the riders crashed on the street, someone in a van blocked traffic for a while until the rider could get back up.
Between the crowds of unruly people encroaching on the street, the proximity of the bikes to vehicles, and the deafening noise of their rigged exhaust systems, it was a very dangerous situation.
And all that was going on while several small children were nearby trying to cross the street.
People who work on Alter tell us these races have become a regular occurrence. Police say they are working hard to find the bikes and racers, who appear to be young teenagers, but they don’t want to pursue the riders in their patrol vehicles because of the inherent dangers of such a chase.
The same area has a reputation as a spot for drug dealing and a host of other trouble, including a 2015 drug-related murder and an incident this summer where an unruly crowd of about 75 confronted police and threw fireworks under a cruiser.
Responding to a host of complaints, police are now using “every resource available,” as Speziale stated, to get a handle on the situation.
During Friday’s operation, they made at least six arrests, including three involving crystal meth. In fact, it seemed from Speziale’s summary of events that just about every person who was stopped that day had narcotics on them. One of the arrests nabbed a fugitive wanted in the Philadelphia area.
The great news for law-abiding citizens is that Speziale assures us the crackdown is far from over, and stepped-up enforcement will continue through saturation patrols and other tactics the chief could not elaborate on right now.
But rest assured, the bad guys are losing and they have no idea when or where police will strike.
By the way, the Alter Street problems do not reflect the whole picture of Hazleton these days.
The city’s downtown looks the best it has in decades, thanks to extensive streetscape work and some revitalization projects being helped along by the Downtown Hazleton Alliance for Progress. There’s a First Friday program that’s bringing people into the city, plus a farmers market and plans for a new Irish-style pub and restaurant.
It’s our sincere hope this good work continues.
In the meantime, our hats are off to Speziale and his force. It’s good to know police are working hard to protect us.
— Times Leader