Allentown, Cedar Crest College form police partnership
Initiative is aimed at seeking ways to improve practices
Allentown’s top cop says he hears from people about the overall crime rate being down; violent crime and other serious offenses in Allentown last year declined 11% from 2019.
Chief Glenn E. Granitz Jr. also said the department has made strides at bettering community outreach, and the new force has become more reflective of the city’s diverse community.
But since becoming chief in 2019, Granitz said he’s also asked why the department doesn’t do more, given the community outcry over police practices locally and nationwide that have spawned protests in support of Blacks, Hispanics and other minorities.
“We are interested in improving our methods,” Granitz said. “What we decided is, we needed data to show us what we were doing well, and just as importantly, where we needed to improve.”
In addition to the nationwide outrage last summer sparked by the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis and the shooting death of Breonna Taylor in a no-knock police raid in Louisville, Kentucky, there were local protests following the arrest of an intoxicated man in July in which an Allentown officer put his knee on the prone man’s head. Days before the incident, Allentown
police released their use-offorce policy.
Then in September, an Allentown man who was beaten during his arrest in 2018, and acquitted of resisting arrest last year, sued the city and eight police officers, alleging excessive force and an official cover-up.
Granitz appeared Wednesday with Mayor Ray O’Connell, other city officials and leaders from Cedar Crest College to announce
the Center for Police Innovation and Community Engagement partnership.
O’Connell said the aim of the data-driven research is to evaluate Allentown police practices in four areas: strategy and practice, community outreach, organization and the transferability of nationally recognized police interventions, including an “active bystandership training” program by the Georgetown
University Law Center. Allentown was one of the first 30 police departments in the nation selected for the program, which provides officers with tactics to intervene and prevent misconduct by their peers.
The city and Cedar Crest, which offers a criminal justice major, will work on a three-year process of establishing a community police program with the city. Part of the process will be researching community policing programs in other cities.
“We believe strongly that policing is a process and not an event,” said Scott Hoke, who chairs the department. “And as a social process, anything can be measured and accessed for its effectiveness.”
Hoke said Cedar Crest has begun surveying officers about handling calls among residents with behavioral issues with a goal down the road of developing guidelines such as how often officers need to respond in cases of crisis residents. He said results of the survey will take “months, not days or weeks” to measure.
Granitz said that once survey results are received, police leaders will meet with city and Lehigh County officials to discuss whether any crisis intervention programs or training would require changes.
City Council in November allocated $40,000 per year over three years for the program, part of $40.8 million Granitz sought last fall during the city’s budget review. The college, meanwhile, has committed two student interns per semester to assist in developing crime analysis data, as well offer its campus for several annual police training events.
“Through sharing of data and progressive strategies, the college and the city are attempting to implement practices that will enhance the quality of life,” O’Connell said, shortly before he joined in a ceremonial signing with Granitz, and Elizabeth M. Meade, Cedar Crest president, at the school’s Alumnae Hall stage.
On hand during Wednesday’s event were three Cedar Crest undergrads involved in the research, including senior Madison Schettig, a criminal justice major whom the city hired in October as a police public safety analyst, helping the department identify crime hot spots, among other trends.
Schettig, a Northwestern Lehigh High School alumnus who grew up in Germansville, Heidelberg Township, believes data is one way to improve policing.
“I don’t think these things are intangible,” said Schettig, noting how Hoke provides tangible data that helps police. Hoke said the school has worked with other departments, including South Whitehall Township and Pocono Mountain Regional Police.
Granitz said the Cedar Crest partnership has been communicated to the beat officers and others in the rank and file. Scott Snyder, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 10, did not return messages seeking comment.
“This is not about replacing police officers in any capacity,” Granitz said. “This is about doing better to serve the residents of Allentown.
“At the base of this program and relationship is looking at policing in a different way in terms of how are we policing in our community, what are we needing to do to serve residents better.”