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Politics & Government

Contract for Regional Crime Data Center approved

County's 17 police departments will get instant access to shared information.

Lehigh County Commissioners Wednesday unanimously approved a contract of up to $2.8 million toward the development of a regional crime data center that should give police a new tool for solving crimes. 

Computer Aid Inc. of Allentown was hired to provide the computer hardware and software for the center which is to be located in the building that houses the 911 dispatch center at Seventh and Hamilton streets.

The program will integrate crime information from the county’s 17 police departments, plus state police and other law enforcement agencies. County crime analysts will look for patterns in criminal activity around the region to aid local police. 

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To pay for it, the county has committed about $500,000 and got a $1.3 million grant from the U.S. Department of Justice. District Attorney James Martin said the county is pursuing other grants, including from the Northeast Pennsylvania Regional Counter- Terrorism Task Force. If no other funds are forthcoming, the county will have the option of scaling back its plans.

This year the county plans to spend $700,000 on computer hardware and software, plus personnel costs of $134,000 for the program director and one crime analyst. In the long-term, it expects personnel and maintenance costs to run under $300,000 a year. 

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Commissioner Chairman Dean Browning touted the center as  “one-stop shopping” for information on criminals and criminal activity and pointed out that it will have data on whether suspects are illegal immigrants, who can then be turned over to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. 

Martin and Commissioner Andy Roman mentioned that in the last five years there have been 39 unsolved homicides in Allentown. “To me that’s chilling,” Roman said. “The fact that there [are] 39 people walking around who committed a heinous crime deserves our utmost attention to doing whatever we have to do to bring these people to justice.”

The data system will allow police doing a routine traffic stop to get more information on a driver they’re approaching, Martin said. In addition to being able to check for outstanding warrants, as police can do now, officers will be able to find out if the driver is on parole or probation and other information.

Martin later gave an example of a crime spree that might have been stopped earlier if police departments had instantaneous access to regional information and analysis. Between May and September of last year there were about 28 robberies around the region -- mostly of hotels and convenience stores -- that shared similar characteristics, he said. 

Once law enforcement started to connect the crimes, Martin’s office organized a task force with surveillance teams to stake out likely marks. 

In September, an Allentown police detective arrested Philome Cesar of Bethlehem after he allegedly robbed a 7-Eleven in south Allentown, according to The Morning Call.  Cesar was eventually charged in about two dozen robberies, including some in Bethlehem, South Whitehall, Upper Macungie, Allentown and Hanover Township, Northampton County.

“It took probably six weeks before all the affected departments realized that they were dealing with a person with the same modus operandi, that fit the same description,” Martin said. “This center, I’m confident, would have alerted those investigating police departments to the similarities.”

The proposal drew praise from Sevilio Molina of Allentown, who said he was involved in his Allentown neighborhood Crime Watch group. “I believe this is one of the top priorities of all citizens of this county and of the state,” Molina said. “The amount of gang activity that has increased over the past years is astronomical.”

Commissioner candidate Scott Ott of South Whitehall Township, said he didn’t have a position on the center but wondered why other counties were not yet willing to join in.  

“I’m optimistic that they will join,” Martin responded. “It’s a little bit like the ‘Field of Dreams,’ OK? “Build it and they will come. We don’t have anything to sell them.”

Commissioner candidate Vic Mazziotti of Allentown told commissioners he’s not opposed to the project and didn’t want to be labeled “pro-crime” for asking questions about it. But he noted that all the funds involved, including the federal grant, come from taxpayers. “I’d like to point out that all the money we’re talking about spending here is taxpayers’ money,” he said.

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