Monday, February 11, 2013
The West Chester Borough Council Public Safety Committee will discuss establishing quiet zones in neighborhoods surrounding West Chester University.
The West Chester Borough Council will hold its second round of committee meetings on Tuesday starting at 5:30 p.m. Public Safety holds its meeting first followed by Finance at 6:30 p.m. and Planning, Zoning and Industrial Development at 7:30 p.m. Borough Committees make recommendations that full council will vote on during their regular meeting. Below are the highlights from each agenda: Public Safety The public safety committee will once again discuss establishing “quiet zone” signage in certain neighborhoods near West Chester University. The committee will discuss which neighborhoods these signs should be in. The signs will not necessarily be enforceable, but the committee hopes they will act as a deterrent. The committee will also …
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Security firm AlliedBarton pulls its bid to perform security patrols in the neighborhoods surrounding West Chester University.
AlliedBarton pulled its bid to perform security patrols in the neighborhoods surrounding West Chester University on Wednesday, just a day after being awarded the contract by borough council. According to borough council member Jordan Norley AlliedBarton pulled its bid as a professional courtesy and because they had concerns about the short turnaround for when it would need to be operational. "The man at Tuesday's meeting was a sales rep," Norley said. "He sent an e-mail saying that the operations team had concerns about the short time required to become operational." If AlliedBarton hadn't pulled its bid, the security patrols would have had to be ready to go in just 10 days. Because AlliedBarton pulled its bid, the contract was awarded to…
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
West Chester Borough Council reluctantly chooses AlliedBarton to continue private security patrols in the neighborhoods surrounding West Chester University.
The West Chester Borough Council voted on Tuesday to sign a one-year contract with AlliedBarton Security Services to conduct patrols in the neighborhoods surrounding West Chester University on weekend nights. Local firm ELPS Private Detective Agency has been conducting the patrols since March of last year, but AlliedBarton underbid the agency for the 2013 contract. “Our hands are tied,” said borough council member Jordan Norley. “We have to go with the lowest bidder.” Norley added, “There have been no complaints about [ELPS] by the police or anyone at all. We had a good working relationship, and they knew the neighborhoods.” West Chester mayor Carolyn Comitta thanked ELPS owner Jeff Stine for the work he did. “You really did a great job…
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
The West Chester public safety committee makes a recommendation to continue a contract with ELPS Private Detective Agency for security patrols near West Chester University.
The West Chester Borough Council Public Safety Committee made a 3-0 recommendation on Tuesday to continue contracting with ELPS Private Detective Agency for security patrols in the neighborhoods surrounding West Chester University. ELPS was originally awarded the contract by borough council last spring so that efforts could be made to curb behavior in the neighborhoods in the southeast quadrant of the borough. “We’ve had no negative reports about the current organization,” said West Chester police chief Scott Bohn. The current contract with ELPS is set to expire at the end of January, and the borough recently sent out a request for proposal to see who would conduct the patrols for the rest of 2013. The low bidders were Allied Barton at $…
Saturday, December 15, 2012
The West Chester Borough Public Safety Committee votes to move forward with continuing private security patrols in the neighborhoods surrounding West Chester University.
The West Chester Public Safety Committee voted to continue the private security patrols that started out as pilot program last March through 2013. Last March the borough hired ELPS Private Detective Agency to patrol neighborhoods around West Chester University, particularly South Walnut Street, as a way to deter students from getting too rowdy on weekend nights West Chester University pays for the entire cost of the program. Several borough officials said they supported the program at Tuesday’s committee meetings, but they said it’s hard to quantify its effectiveness. “I don’t think it’s a bad thing,” said West Chester police chief Scott Bohn. He added that it’s hard to quantify how successful the program is, and that any evidence one-…
Friday, June 29, 2012
The West Chester Borough Council extends the contract of a private security firm hired to patrol the West Chester University neighborhoods on weekend nights.
The West Chester Borough Council voted on Tuesday to extend the contract of ELPS Private Detective Agency through the fall semester so that it may continue weekend patrols of the neighborhods near West Chester University. Borough Council instituted a pilot program in conjunction with the university in March for private security teams to help with public safety and quality of life issues in the neighborhoods surrounding the university. "It's hard to get objective evidence that it's having an effect," said council member Jordan Norley. "But subjectively, I've heard from residents that it's helped out a lot." Originally slated to last from March until April, the program will now carry through until the end of the fall semester. "All of the …
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
West Chester Borough Council will hire ELPS Private Detective Agency to help patrol the university neighborhoods.
The West Chester Borough Council voted 6-1 to hire a private security firm to patrol the neighborhood in and around South Walnut Street on Tuesday night. Security teams will walk the neighborhood on Thursday through Saturday nights from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. with the aim of cutting down on quality of life disturbances. “They’re main objective would be to deal with the roaming bands of drunk college kids on South Walnut Street,” said council president Holly Brown. The borough voted to contract with ELPS Private Detective Agency contingent on the support of West Chester University. The university will front the money to pay for the security force in what is being dubbed a pilot program. If the borough and the neighborhoods see significant …
nnfulhub
4:15 pm on Tuesday, February 12, 2013
I like the idea of deeming neighborhoods 'quiet zones', but the signs should be enforceable and state the $$ amount of fines. That way the fines could help offset the capital costs of the signs. more ›