Beginning this weekend, Pottsville police will be conducting several concentrated neighborhood foot patrols independent of, and in addition to, the daily patrols.
Chief Richard F. Wojciechowsky said that the proactive patrols will consist of at least two uniformed officers working as a team to focus on a specific ward of the city in order to promote personnel interaction with residents of the particular geographic area being addressed that day.
During the first wave of this program, Wojciechowsky said the citizen contact patrols will be completed in each ward of the city on separate weekends.
Following the completion of each assignment, the participating officers will provide department management, as well as fellow officers, with a review of their contacts as well as a summary of information gathered through personal observations and conversations with residents.
“The primary goal of this endeavor is to promote additional positive police interactions throughout the City of Pottsville,” the chief said.
He added that the interactions will occur separate from official police responses to calls for protection or service and will include residents who may otherwise have limited personal contact with the department.
Wojciechowsky said that in addition to talking with people encountered in public, officers will be knocking on residents’ doors to initiate these conversations.
A secondary goal of the program is to accumulate beneficial input from the members of the community to identify matters of importance to our residents.
The chief said that this data will aid in creating future focus points for normal patrol activities and will also be used in analysis pertaining to future decisions concerning the best applications of the department’s resources.