MORE ODDS AND ENDS...

At last night's Borough Council Public Safety Commitee meeting, the 3 member commitee unanimously approved a plan by WCPD to purchase 3 new digital dash-cam recording systems to replace outdated equipment. The three cameras were originally part of the current year's proposed budget, however the request was withdrawn due to financial concerns. However, thanks in part to a grant from the Edward Byrne Memorial Grant Assistance fund, WCPD is expecting to recieve a grant of $15,245 to offset the purchase of the new cameras. The final grant is contingent on approval by both Chester County and the Coatesville City Council (the county administers the grant, while Coatesville is also expected to be recipient of this funding)...

One of the two new Ford Crown Victoria patrol cars are now in service. The new 1-20 marked patrol unit was put into service within the past couple of days and is now parked in it's regularly assigned spot at WCPD headquarters; it sports the new style LED lightbar seen on the 1-24 car. The old 1-20 car is now in the upper lot awaiting its fate with it's prisoner cage removed. The new unmarked cruiser is still down at Metro Communications in Exton and hopefully should be in service soon. Meanwhile, the slick top 1-25 car remains out of service awaiting repairs...

Over the past couple of weeks, WCPD has been operating it's radio system in analog mode. Reportedly, there are several troubleshooting issues between WCPD and Motorola that need to be addressed. There's no immediate timetable for when the digital mode will be restored...

A defendant in an aggravated assault case had a brief pre-trial hearing at Common Pleas Court yesterday. Tykesha M. Jackson, 21, of Coatesville, faces two counts of Aggravated Assault, one count each of Simple Assault and Reckless Endangerment, and six counts of Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Assault relating to an incident on January 19 in a case filed by WCPD Det. Anne Martin. In a hearing that lasted less than two minutes in front of Common Pleas Court Judge William Mahon, Jackson had her case remanded back to District Court for a preliminary hearing.

Jackson had been classified as a fugitive after failing to appear for a preliminary hearing in front of Judge Bruno in March. She was arrested on May 30, arraigned in Downingtown District Court and committed to Chester County Prison in lieu of $7,500 cash bail. A hearing date has yet to be determined, but I would suspect it would be withing the next few weeks.

MIXED MESSAGES FROM 401 E GAY...

For the past couple of years, West Chester Borough Council has been rightfully expressing concerns about the proliferation of liquor licenses and its effects on many aspects of the quality of life in town. So, one has to wonder what the folks in the borough's Recreation Department were thinking - or for that matter if they were even thinking at all - when they came up with this particular event...

As part of the 25th Annual Turk's Head Music Festival at Everhart Park next month, the Recreation Department is offering a one-price admission wristband to 6 borough bars the Friday night before the festival. While the proceeds from this event certainly benefit a worthy cause - the "Send a Kid to Camp Fund" - I can't help but wonder what kind of message is being given when you have one wing of the borough government - namely the Recreation Department - that is effectively running what amounts to a pub crawl while other wings of the borough government - namely Borough Council and the Police Department - expressing concerns over the nuisances that have popped up at many of these bars over the past few years.

Am I missing something here? Why is the Recreation Department even going ahead with this plan? Allowing unlimited access to multiple bars for a single price is, to my mind, an open invitation for people to act like drunken idiots. I'd be willing to set the over/under on public drunkeness arrests at 15 (of course, we all know that wagering and other types of gambling are illegal in Pennsylvania - unless the state sponsors it), and that might be a little generous, when you consider that 15 North - the mother of all headache bars, Baxter's, and Kildare's are all involved in this promotion.

And to think that your municipal tax dollars are helping to fund this ridiculous idea.

Let's just hope that this is just a one time thing in honor of the 25th anniversary of Turk's Head and that nobody down at Borough Hall decides to make this an annual event...

ASSAULT AT BOROUGH PARKING DECK

Shortly after 02:00 this morning, WCPD units responded to a report of an assault on the 4th floor of the Mosteller Parking Garage at Chestnut and Walnut streets. Not too long after the report came in, two subjects who were reportedly involved in the assault were spotted walking westbound on Prescott Alley towards High Street. After a brief foot pursuit, the two subjects were arrested. Further investigation determined that only one of the two detained were actually involved in the assault; the second subject was also transported to the station on Public Drunkeness charges. Anyone care to guess where these two were drinking all night (maybe, say, the Walnut or Market Street corridors)?

The incident certainly should re-raise the issue of surveillance cameras inside the borough owned parking structures - both the Mosteller Garage and the Bicentennial Garage on South High Street lack video surveillance equipment; the garages owned by the borough and used by West Chester University have such equipment. Borough Council recently raised the issue at a Parking Committee meeting a few months ago. The director of Parking Services downplayed the idea, essentially saying that there wasn't enough major criminal activity occuring at Mosteller and Bicentennial to warrant such equipment. If enough people are made aware of what happened this morning, then perhaps that might change some minds...

It capped off a pretty violent night in the borough, where the Chester County Hospital ER called WCPD twice in the past 12 hours to report that two patients had arrived at the ER requesting to file assault complaints. And to think we're just a little more than 24 hours away from the Super Sunday street festival - one of at least three days this summer and fall which could be mistaken for drunk festivals. Here's hoping this isn't a sign of things to come...

INTERESTING DUI FIGURES

In the first 4 months of 2007, West Chester Police filed 64 DUI cases in the two district courts in the borough and at District Court 15-2-06 in Downingtown (whose jurisdiction includes East Bradford) - 25 cases filed at 15-1-01, 36 cases filed at 15-1-04, and at least 3 cases filed at 15-2-06 (determining the 15-2-06 figures weren't as easy when you factor in the court also handles cases filed by the Downingtown and Birmingham Police Departments and PSP/Embreeville).

For the first four months of 2006, WCPD made 63 arrests (which include both the borough and East Bradford) with a total of 236 DUI cases for the department for the entire year; in the first four months of 2005, 71 DUI arrests were logged, leading to a total of 198 DUI arrests. If these trends hold, it wouldn't be shocking at all if WCPD ends up with more DUI arrests this year than last year.

To put this into further perspective, only three other county departments had triple digit DUI arrest counts in 2006: Tredyffrin (176), West Whiteland (115), and West Goshen (105). Other notable numbers show 64 DUI arrests by Downingtown Police, 53 by Birmingham Twp, and 48 by the Westtown-East Goshen Regional Police. The only other law enforcement agency in the county that has higher DUI arrest totals than West Chester in 2006 were the two Chester County PSP stations (troopers from Embreeville logged 342 arrests, Avondale 285).

All 2006 figures were obtained from the Pennsylvania State Police Uniform Crime Report online databse; the 2007 counts were calcuated after reviewing on-line docket sheets at the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts (AOPC) public record web site. The 2007 figures are unofficial and final figures for 2007 won't be officially released until early next February when the WCPD issues it's annual report.

These figures seem particulary relevant in light of Wednesday's hearing by the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Policy Committee, hosted by State Sen. Andrew Dinniman (D-19th). At least 8 other state senators also participated in the hearing, including two State Senators Philadelphia - Vince Fumo (yes, THAT Vince Fumo) and Anthony Hardy Williams, and State Senator Connie Williams (D-17th), whose district includes the college towns Lower Merion and Radnor. The fact that a hearing in West Chester on any issue can bring nearly 20 percent of the entire Pennsylvania State Senate, much less the issues of the effects on liquor licenses on college towns such as West Chester, State College, and Kutztown, is staggering and appears to indicate that Harrisburg may be taking many of the issues faced by West Chester and similar towns very seriously.

I anticipate commenting further on this particular issue in a few days, time permitting.

A PRELUDE TO WEDNESDAY?

How appropriate that two trouble spots as far as liquor licenses are concerned decide to flare up just a few days before State Sen. Andy Dinniman (D-19th) and other senators come to West Chester to address the impact of liquor licenses on college towns such as West Chester...

At around 21:00, units were dispatched to the report of a disturbance at the Star Social Club at Matlack & Market. All available units responded and ultimately placed the disorderly crowd under control without arrests, thought it appeared that whatever event was going on there was shut down. Earlier in the year, a woman was assaulted with a baseball bat at that location, in an incident which required West Goshen PD to respond on an assist...

Then, at around 02:30 this morning, units responded to a disorderly group in the area of 15 North (surprise, surprise). At least three arrests were made for public drunkeness and related offenses.

Those were the two big incidents from an otherwise quiet Saturday night.

As far as Wednesday is concerned, Dinniman is taking the lead in holding what is essentially a "dog and pony" show for fellow senators at the Chester County Courthouse on Wednesday, starting at 16:00 hours. According to Jim Jones' web site (wcjim.com) , this will not "will not be an open forum at which anyone can comment, but rather an opportunity for selected individuals to place statements on a public record that will then be considered by members of the State Senate." Those tentatively scheduled to speak, according to Mr. Jones' site, include "representatives of Borough Council, the West Chester Police Department, West Chester University, the Restaurant Association, and possibly representatives from the judicial system, district attorney's office, Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and/or social service agencies."

Yup, a lot of good that's going to do for the general public at large who may want to speak out about this issue. Sorry, but I guess after being to so many borough council meetings over the years, I thought it would've been a good idea to have the residents most affected by this issue address the Senators, but I guess that's asking too much. (And, yes, I would've most likely have been one of them, but why should the powers that be in Harrisburg listen to the people who put them into office in the first place?)

The idea for this hearing initially was suggested by Councilwoman Holly Brown (1st Ward), and to hold such a forum at the borough level. When Dinniman began to float the idea around about a similar meeting, Councilwoman Brown held off. Perhaps it might not be a bad idea in a few months to have the Borough hold a similar forum in which comments from the public at large can be heard and forwarded to Harrisburg.

Anyway, I might be inclined to still attend the hearing and express my displeasure with the format afterwards, but who knows...