Erie Police has launched a new way to communicate crime with the department.
This comes after reviewing statistics and is an act to reduce crime in the community.
During the mayor’s news conference, their focus Thursday was on crime, enforcement, and prevention.
The Erie Police Department compared crime statistics from the first half of this year with the last two years.
According to Police Chief Dan Spizarny, a major concern for several years has been shots fired.
In 2023, so far so good.
“Our number of shots fired this year the first six months is down almost 50%,” Chief Spizarny said.
Spizarny told us violent crimes trending up include homicide, aggravated assault and sex offenses.
In order to address these trends, the department has been working on new technology to ensure and prioritize a safe community.
One example, a system called ShotSpotter tested over the Fourth of July weekend.
“Officers through the app are able to tell exactly where the gun was fired at so now were not just searching a neighborhood were going to the actual spot of the shooting,” Spizarny said.
The Erie Police Department has unveiled a new app that they say will make it easier for the public to submit a tip.
“Now we’re allowed to get the tip in, review the tip and assign it to any police officer within the police department to communicate,” said Christopher Janus, inspector of police for the City of Erie “It’s completely anonymous. It’s free. If you don’t have a smart phone you can use the text messaging and you can still go directly to our website to communicate with us.”
The department also updated the public on their special programs which the mayor said have transformed kids by creating relationships with police.
“I ask the kids, ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ 40 percent of these kids have consistently said they want to be police officers when they grow up, which is really great to see, because I want our police to look like the community,” said Joe Schember, mayor of the City of Erie.
The ShotSpotter will go live on August 1. The tip line app is called “Erie PD” and is available to download immediately.
iPhone users can download the Erie PD app here.
Android and Google users can download the Erie PD app here.
