Released: July 18, 2024
Media, PA - Delaware County Council, District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, and City of Chester Mayor Stefan Roots announced the kickoff of the Summer 2024 Safe Streets Program on July 15, 2024. The program was created to temporarily address a critical shortage of patrol officers in the Chester Police Department (CPD) by utilizing select County employees for non-patrol duties, thereby freeing up CPD officers to perform patrol duties - adding more officer to the streets. The program is expected to continue until the end of the summer, addressing the need to prevent and respond to the increase in crime that typically occurs in summer months.
Members of the County team with the required training and credentials can apply to serve in the paid positions. All expenses incurred by the County in connection with the program will be paid out of available grant funds from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.
During the Spring of 2024, District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer convened a meeting of stake holders, including the leadership of the County’s Park Police and Department of Emergency Services, and Commissioner Steve Gretsky of the CPD, to assess the CPD’s critical staffing shortage. The CPD, like many police departments across the County and the country, has struggled to recruit an adequate number of officers. As a result, the department’s roster has only 65% of the number of officers that it needs.
Commissioner Gretsky identified two positions – the turnkey and the operations positions – which are essential to the department’s operations, but that do not involve any patrol responsibilities. Both positions are performed entirely within the offices of the CPD. Traditionally, the duties of both positions have been performed by CPD officers qualified to work on patrol.
During the meeting, leaders discussed creative and effective solutions to staff the vacancies, One idea was to utilize Delaware County Park Police Officers and staff from the Department of Emergency Services Department (DES) to temporarily fill those positions, allowing CPD have two more CPD officers available for patrol duty. The stakeholders agreed that qualified volunteers from the Park Police and DES who were interested in earning overtime compensation could be solicited, and the County could utilize grant funding from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency to pay the overtime expenses. The initiative, Operation Safe Streets, was presented to County Council at a public meeting on Tuesday, July 16, and was unanimously approved by Council at their meeting the following day.
“The County is hopeful that this partnership is successful with assisting the City of Chester during an anticipated rise in crime during the summer months” said Delaware County Council Chair Dr. Monica Taylor. “We deeply appreciate the collaboration and commitment that has already been demonstrated by everyone involved in devising this creative approach. We commend District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, Park Police Chief John Diehl, and Acting Director of Delaware County’s Department of Emergency Services Ed Beebe for their dedication and efforts to keep our community safe.”
“Our success in reducing gun violence in the City of Chester – and throughout the County – relies on many things, not just law enforcement. However, without an adequate number of officers, the task is immeasurably more difficult. I am incredibly grateful for the cooperation of my colleagues throughout the County who have come together to help us support the City’s police department during the difficult summer months,” said District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer.
“As always, I am grateful to County Council, led by Dr Monica Taylor, the District Attorney, the Park Police and the County’s DES, for stepping up to help the City of Chester in these challenging times. Our residents know that the County is looking for every mechanism it can deploy to assist the City, and we are most appreciative. I also want to thank the folks at PCCD for their continued commitment to the needs of our great City,” said Stefan Roots, Mayor of the City of Chester.
Contact: Margie McAboy, Director of Policy and Public Engagement, Delaware County District Attorney’s Office, 610-579-0429