New police officer sworn into service
New Amity Police Officer Fernando Santiago III was sworn into service by Amity Police Chief Andrew J. Kensey on April 20.
Santiago is the department’s 13th full-time officer, but its first bilingual officer.
“The police department needs to reflect the community it serves,” said Kensey. “As an ex-urb of Reading, we want to be able to help our Spanish-speaking complainants.” Santiago’s annual salary will be $54,534.
He most recently worked as a security guard at Penn State Health St. Joseph Medical Center, Reading, after graduating in 2016 from the Allentown Police Academy.
Santiago is also an Army veteran who served in Afghanistan.
In other business, Kensey presented to the Amity Township Board of Supervisors the law
enforcement platform by CRIMEWATCH Technologies, Carlisle, which would replace and manage the department’s webpage.
Matt Bloom, from CRIMEWATCH, said the “integrated public engagement platform” is a controlled method to disseminate information to the public, press, community, mobile apps, and social media.
He said the technology is designed to “manage and simplify public relations.”
The website is free to the public and “geo” locates its users, providing “specific news and information to this area.”
Bloom said the “geo” locator
also provides updates as the user moves throughout Berks County, Montgomery County, etc.
Other local municipalities using CRIMEWATCH include Spring, Muhlenberg, Caernarvon, and West Reading.
The police department’s monthly cost would be $197.
“This puts out information simultaneously to social media and the press,” said Kensey, adding, “I feel very comfortable with it, and it will keep Amity Township progressively moving forward.”
Township Manager Troy Bingaman said the township has received a worker’s compensation insurance refund of $75,709.37, as well as a property and liability refund of $18,527.72, from 2007 to 2015.