UCD task force to stress safety

In an effort to maximize safety and security on and around campus, the University City District announced last week the formation of a community-based task force charged with discussing public safety issues and developing coordinated responses to area security problems. The University City Community Public Safety Task Force -- a collaboration between the UCD's safety ambassadors, the Philadelphia Police Department and local town watch organizations -- is "charged with reviewing crime patterns, identifying problem areas and developing coordinated responses," UCD Executive Director Paul Steinke said Monday. Through monthly or bi-monthly meetings, the task force will put University City's seven town watch organizations -- the eyes and ears of area neighborhoods -- in formal communication with public safety and security officials so that the two entities can pool information to help reduce and prevent crime, Steinke said. "The task force is a way to engage the town watches in planning and implementation of improved public safety programs," Steinke said. The group will likely be composed of 12 to 20 representatives from the town watches, the UCD, the Penn Police and the Philadelphia Police, as well as SpectraGuard, Drexel University, Amtrak and other area institutions. According to Philadelphia Police Lt. Gerard McShea, one of the group's chairpersons, the police will "try to direct the local town watches in the areas they should be concerned with" and "make them feel a little more empowered" in the fight against crime. While the idea behind the task force has been in the works for some time, its formation was facilitated by the recent partnership between the UCD and the Philadelphia Police manifest in last week's opening of the new UCD operations center. The operations center, located at 3940-42 Chestnut Street, will house the UCD's 40 safety ambassadors -- unarmed officers who patrol University City and assist pedestrians -- as well as a police substation where 25 officers from the 16th and 18th Districts will report. "It's really an opportunity to put all the different elements of crime fighting on the same page," task force co-chairperson Marty Cabry said. "Every player that comes to the table brings something to it and adds strength to it." Cabry, who heads University City's seven town watch organizations, said that in addition to patrolling the areas in which they live, town watch members also specialize in educating area residents on ways to protect themselves and their homes against crime. "I think [the task force] makes town watch members feel they're really part of things now," Cabry said. Steinke cited recent statistics released by the Penn Police that show a 32 percent decrease in crime as a reason for more -- not less -- community involvement and cooperation. "Clearly all the efforts to improve public safety have succeeded," Steinke said, stressing that more cooperation can only result in even larger decreases in crime. And UCD Operations Director John Conlow, who supervises the UCD's 40 safety ambassadors, said the town watch organizations often assist public safety officials by providing information about crime patterns they have observed near their homes. "People who know the neighborhood best are people who live here every day," Conlow said. "They have the biggest stake in the neighborhood because they're all homeowners," McShea added.

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