MIDDLETOWN, Del. – New Castle County Executive Tom Gordon’s regional community meeting in Appoquinimink Community Library drew nearly 60 people eager to learn more about the County’s predictive policing, storm preparation, code enforcement and constituent services.
“I just want to welcome everybody here tonight. It’s great to be here in Middletown with my friends, Councilman Bill Bell and Councilman Bill Powers,” New Castle County Executive Tom Gordon said. “They are both working hard on Council to represent you and everyone in Southern New Castle County.
“This meeting tonight is part of the tour we have taken to every part of the County to tell people about our effective Public Safety strategy and the advancements we’ve made in technology to help our police officers combat crime,” he said. “They’re moving fast in a different and contemporary direction, and it’s pretty exciting. We want the public to not only understand this but to assist us and be the eyes and ears for the County.”
New Castle County Police Chief Elmer Setting, Captain Wendi Feeser, Lt. Patrick Crowell, and Detective Angela Dolan then showed southern New Castle County residents how much crime had been reduced in the County because of the Targeted Analytic Policing System. TAPS has used state-of-the-art technology to predict where the crime would occur so that police could patrol those areas in order to reduce crime.
To illustrate this concept, Detective Dolan showed the crowd an IBM video of a police officer on duty driving to a convenience store, amidst a high tech backdrop, and scaring off a would-be robber who slinks away at the sight of the officer.
Amongst other presenters, Emergency Management Planner Joseph Cochran spoke of preparations the County makes to prepare for disasters, and he urged residents to make their own preparations. Emergency Communications Chief Jeff Miller strongly encouraged residents to sign up for Smart911 at www.Smart911.com. Lastly, Executive Assistant Steve Burg spoke of the importance of constituent services
Gordon said his next series of meetings would focus more on Department of Land Use issues and his goal to reconstruct the Unified Development Code that had been watered down since he left office in 2004.