12 Burglaries, 16 Thefts in September, Police Say

South Whitehall Township police responded to 936 incidents in September, including 12 burglaries and 16 thefts, according to a crime report issued by Police Chief Thomas J. Toth last week.

Police responded to 875 incidents in the township in September 2012.

Toth gave out handouts of the September report at the most recent township commissioners meeting on Wednesday, though the report available on the township website as of Sunday was still for August.

Toth told commissioners that he had met with the Neighbors Are Reporting Crime watch group on Tuesday and did a refresher on Internet tools available to them to monitor crime reporting in the township.

At the previous meeting, Toth was criticized by N.A.R.C. leader John Oplinger for not telling residents more about burglaries that have recently taken place along Walbert Avenue.

Since 2009, South Whitehall police have used a service to map their crime. The service, crimemapping.com, takes the township's police data and applies it to a Google map, providing information on crimes by block, but not by a specific address for privacy reasons.

Residents can sign up here to receive alerts and they can go to the site to access information.

South Whitehall police also post statistics and reported crimes on a monthly basis on the township website for each of the two Crime Watch areas. Neighbors are Reporting Crime (N.A.R.C) covers the area of the township that is north of Tilghman Street.  Residents Around Dorney Are Reporting (R.A.D.A.R.) covers the area south of Tilghman Street.