The City of Allentown’s surveillance camera network is expanding thanks to a partnership with PPL, Air Products, City Center and the Downtown Community Development Initiative.
At a late morning news conference at 10th & Linden streets, Mayor Ed Pawlowski; PPL Chairman, President and CEO William Spence and City Center Cofounder and President J.B. Reilly announced that the partners are donating $100,000 for the city to add seven powerful, high-definition cameras in Old Allentown at 11th & Linden, 12th & Linden, 10th& Turner, 11th& Turner, 12th & Turner, 10th & Chew and 8th & Gordon.
“The cameras have been a fantastic addition to our resources to prevent crime and to investigate and identify and arrest individuals when crimes have occurred,” said Pawlowski. “I want to thank our partners for once again coming to the aid of their community.”
“When people feel safe walking down the streets, it encourages them to visit the restaurants, shops and events that are turning this city into a thriving destination,” said William Spence, Chairman, President and CEO of PPL Corporation. “PPL is proud to support this initiative to enhance public safety in Allentown because a safe and secure community is a vibrant community.”
“This collaboration among downtown businesses and the city is another great example of economic development spurring community development – and safe neighborhoods are the foundation of community development,” said J.B. Reilly, president of City Center. “City Center’s goal is not just to revitalize downtown Allentown but to benefit its adjacent neighborhoods as well. We look forward to supporting other initiatives to help the surrounding community in the near future.”
Last September, City Center donated $150,000 to replace eight cameras with new high-definition cameras along Hamilton and Linden streets and add three additional high-definition cameras.
That move has allowed the police department to repurpose those existing cameras to the intersections of 5th & Liberty, 6th & Liberty, 4th & Allen, 6th & Allen, 8th & Allen, 6th & Gordon, 6th & Walnut, 5th & Tilghman, 4th & Turner and 8th & Washington. Those ten cameras recently became operational.
Pawlowski said, “We now have 144 cameras in our network. Camera operators in the Allentown Communications Center regularly monitor and record activity in public areas and also monitor particular areas in response to emergency calls.”
City cameras generated 593 calls for service from monitoring of the network at the Communications Center in 2014.
Allentown Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald added, “The private/public partnership we established with these prominent community stakeholders enabled the expansion of our camera network, demonstrates their overall commitment to public safety, and provides an additional layer of investigative resources that we can use to protect the entire city.”
The city’s share of the cost of the new cameras is just more than $11,200. The cameras will be installed by Allentown-based Communication Systems Inc.
Pawlowski also announced that the city is about to initiate a pedestrian street lighting program in the Center City area. An initial 100 pedestrian scale streetlights are being purchased and will be installed along selected blocks over the course of the next year.
“It will continue to be our policy to give our citizens our maximum preventive, investigative and enforcement effort,” Pawlowski said. “We will continue to do everything we can to make things uncomfortable for lawbreakers.”
Pawlowski also acknowledged contributions to the camera system from Service Electric. They provided the connectivity needed to connect the Hamilton St cameras that City Center donated last September to the city camera network.
“Service Electric has been a presence and a partner with the city and our public safety efforts for many years, in many ways, Pawlowski said. “They are another example of a great partner of the city and a tremendous corporate citizen.”
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