LANCASTER, Pa. – Officers with the Lancaster police department spent Tuesday evening meeting with dozens of residents in the city’s southwest neighborhood.
They answered questions from the public about a variety of topics, from how to give better crime tips to making sure neighborhoods have better lighting.
“You start with small things that might not appear to be the most major significant crime, but you address the little things,” Sgt. Glenn Stoltzfus of the Lancaster police department said. “That in turn helps the neighborhood and helps the relationship that you have from the neighborhood to the police department.”
“We have a good rapport with them and we’re hoping to make it even better,” Dick Hecker, a resident and member of the Southwest Neighborhood Leadership Board, said. “I want to see it kind of get back to the way it used to be.”
The city is awaiting word later this month on a grant that would pump more than a million dollars into the city’s southwest side as part of its five-year revitalization plan.
“We’re just going to try to make it a real friendly safe place to live,” Hecker said. “It’s an ideal spot for downtown and you can get north, south, east west from this section in ten minutes, so we want people to come in to the neighborhood and bring vitality back to it.”
Police say the most impartant thing is to keep the conversation going.
“The more often that local residents are in communication with us about, not just the here and now problems, but really the ongoing quality of life problems that affect this area, the better off we all are,” Stoltzfus said.
Police and community members are hoping to host these meeting three or four times a year.
