Angry and scared: W-B council hears from residents on shootings

Feb. 22-- Feb. 22--WILKES-BARRE -- Several residents expressed their fears and concerns about the spate of recent shootings in the city and asked for more action during a council meeting Thursday.

"I am angry and I am scared," Linda Joseph, president of the Rolling Mill Hill Residents Association, told council."

"I have never felt fear before (when) getting in my car and driving anywhere in the city. This week, that changed for me. Will I be caught in a crossfire of gunfire on the streets in Wilkes-Barre? Never in a million years did I think this would go though my mind," Joseph said.

Joseph said the city has been in "a crisis situation" for a long time, and "the escalation of violence this week is beyond alarming."

Shots have been fired at people, into homes and/or into vehicles in the city in five incidents over an eight-day period, with the latest two on Tuesday. Three gunshot victims from two of the incidents remain hospitalized, according to police.

In one incident at Dana and High streets on Tuesday, a woman's vehicle was struck by a bullet being fired at another intended target as she was driving home through the neighborhood.

Heights resident Jim Burden described an incident in which he was recently shot in the back with a pellet while out walking his dog.

"Now when I take my dog out at night, I don't go alone. I take my friend. Besides my daughter, I'm afraid for my wife, for my grandchild. This is ridiculous," Burden said.

While acknowledging that police Chief Joseph Coffay attended the council meeting, he criticized Mayor Tony George, saying he "doesn't have the guts" to attend council meetings to hear residents' concerns.

George has said council meetings are intended for council to hear from residents, and residents can speak with him when he's in his office or when he attends crime watch meetings in the city's neighborhoods.

Resident John Suchoski said he doesn't think the city has enough police officers on the force.

"We need to find some funding to get more boots on the ground," Suchoski said.

Coffay said state police have been working in the city every day since the first shootings, and he restated comments he made at a press conference George called Wednesday -- that the city was receiving assistance from task forces of the FBI and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, as well as from the offices of the state Attorney General and the Luzerne County District Attorney.

"When something happens and I have serious crimes like these shootings, all I have to do is make a phone call. Next thing you know, I have 15-20 agents come here, and that's ... exactly what we have now. I have FBI agents around, I have ATF agents around, I have state police. So all that basically is a force multiplier we need to handle this problem," he said.

Suchoski asked Coffay if he thought more officers were needed on the force.

"Listen, you're asking a police officer," Coffay said before being cut off by laughter from council and the public.

"Absolutely. Give me 100 guys and I'll work miracles for you. We could always use more police officers," Coffay said, adding that "we work with what we have, and now it's an allocation of manpower. We have guys handling calls and we have guys doing aggressive, proactive stuff."

Tony C. Thomas, who is running for council in District E, asked what steps city officials are taking "to combat recidivism of violent crime through tactics that involve looking at crime data, scientific-based data, sociological data" that go beyond traditional law-enforcement tactics.

Coffay said what Thomas described is the "basis for 21st century policing." He said he recently returned from a law enforcement conference in Kansas City sponsored by the U.S. Attorney's Office addressing those topics and noted that Wilkes-Barre is one of just five cities nationally that will receive funding earmarked to implement those kinds of initiatives through the Operation Safe Streets program.

Council Chairman Mike Belusko said he and the other council members know what the concerns of residents are, and that he had many questions for George and Coffay after a shooting Tuesday in his South Wilkes-Barre district.

"That was part of my questions -- was our police department too small, maybe, to handle all of these shootings? One of my things was, OK, we'll open up the budget to the mayor. Do what you have to do ... get whoever you need here," Belusko said.

But, he said, Coffay addressed the issue at the news conference Wednesday.

Belusko said he felt like council had to "step up and do something," but he couldn't come up with anything specific until talking with Coffay.

He urged residents and people who work in or visit the city "to help the police" by staying alert and calm, noting any suspicious people or vehicles in their neighborhoods, writing down descriptions of them and calling 911 with the information.

In other business, council unanimously passed resolutions authorizing the administration to:

--Enter leasing and maintenance agreements with Enterprise Fleet Management and/or Enterprise FM Trust for any future acquisition of city vehicles, from police cars to dump trucks. City Administrator Rick Gazenski estimated savings of $35,000 to $40,000 annually compared to traditional vehicle purchases.

--Enter a contract with Zelenkofske Axelrod LLC to conduct an audit of the city's 2018 finances at a cost of $59,500, representing savings of $6,500 over the 2017 audit by Baker Tilly Virchow Krause LLP.

Council also passed a resolution proclaiming April 2019 Fair Housing Month top encourage citizens and organizations to celebrate diversity and "value the harmonious communities of neighborhoods to support the goal of equal opportunities for all people."

Contact the writer:

smocarsky@citizensvoice.com

570-821-2110, @MocarskyCV

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