Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Police Blotter in Nazareth

A previous discussion here, particularly following the spate of break-ins at the start of this year, focused on the release of information from Nazareth Borough and surrounding communities related to crimes.

While both the Express-Times and the Morning Call include crimes on a daily basis in their publications, there are very few pertaining to our area.

The Mayor includes a list of them during each Council meeting and they are public record. It seems strange that more aren't available to the public as they are reported in the newspapers.

I bring it up now because yesterday there was one listed in the Morning Call (rather insignificant, but there none-the-less - read it here) and its appearance reminded me of how few I've seen in the past several weeks.

I understand that there is a transition taking place and with an interim Chief we are effectively short a position. I also understand that this is not the highest priority item compared to getting one's work done from the perspective of the police. I do hope once the transition is complete that the new Police Chief makes this information more easily available and accessible, similar to what Council has finally done with its Committee meetings, because it is important for the public to be aware of what is happening within the community.

6 comments:

Director of Communications said...

Not to make any more work for you, Ross, but could you post a blotter here? You're already trumping the Morning Call and Express Times in every other category!

RossRN said...

Thanks, and I have considered doing some sort of map with locations pinpointed, but it wouldn't be close to real time.

Maybe once a month, one for crime and later one for traffic.

Also, I wouldn't say I trump them, but I have unlimited space to write and as much as the columnists would like to put down everything they find, the reality is they can't.

They are often a great help to me and hopefully the posts and comments here give them material for columns that can be written in print and put before those people who don't visit the site.

None-the-less, I do appreciate the comment!

Anonymous said...

I am not surprised that there are no reports of crime involving the Nazareth Area. It is just another example of..."hurry up hide it under the carpet, before anyone sees what is really happing!" You can find examples of this all throughout Nazareth....Borough Council, School Board, and police reports are just a few examples.

Anonymous said...

good grief----it was just a marital dispute. do we have to air such petty "crimes"?????
Aren't we becoming abit neurotic and hysterical? But that is what the media works on in hopes of selling more papers and as far as TV goes---watching more commercials.

RossRN said...

The point I was making wasn't in regard to the particular crime but the fact that both the Express-Times and Morning Call have indicated it is difficult to get crime information from Nazareth and as result it is often not reported.

I don't know the rhyme and reason of their blotters.

For this site, I'd be interested in for lack of a better description, the crimes that impact the community, theft, robbery, vandalism, drug dealing, etc. I'd also be interested in traffic related offenses.

As you say, the domestic dispute while sad for those involved, is more personal than communal.

RossRN said...

The Morning Call had another police blotter from Nazareth and while this one was theft it again seemed to be a domestic dispute as it was unlawful taking not a stolen vehicle.

While these two are not a regular listing, they are more regular than we've had in the past, but I think some form of crime mapping would be worthwhile.