Residents of Hunting Park and the police who protect them gathered together this week in the basement of the Tioga United Methodist Church.
Residents sat in the fold up chairs talking amongst themselves at the 25th Police District Captain’s Townhall Meeting held Wednesday night. The police officers and other community leaders stand in the front of the room ready to address the residents.
Sandy Miranda, a clean block officer for the 25th Police District, comes to these meetings to spread the word about block captains and street clean ups.
“We try to educate, motivate and encourage residents to come out and participate in street cleanings, at least in front of their homes,” Miranda said.
The police officers also encourage residents to get involved. Lt. James Nagel is the officer in charge of the Police Service Area 1 in Hunting Park. “The purpose of this meeting is to discuss any concerns that people that live in the area have or to ask us any questions that they may have,” Nagel said.
Th3 25th District stretches east from Broad Street to G Street, and north from Lehigh Avenue to Hunting Park Avenue. Nagel patrols a third of this district and works directly with the residents in his particular area.
“I personally like the area. It has its problem like everywhere else. I don’t think it’s problem free, but I don’t think anywhere in the city is (problem free). Every area has its own problem,” Nagel said.
To try and decrease any problems, Philadelphia Police began a new program called Operation ID. This program encourages people to mark their property with an identification number so it can be located if stolen. This makes stolen property hard for a burglar to resell or dispose of. Items with the identification numbers can be returned to the owner if found.
To participate in this program, citizens can go to www.phillypolice.com or visit their local police district to fill out an application.
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