Macungie Borough Council passed the long awaited internal affairs policy for the police department Aug. 5, realizing a goal Chief Ed Harry has championed for over three years.

Harry testified to council that in the few weeks since Gary Cordner was appointed interim mayor, the two have met for more time than Cordner's predecessor Rickie Hoffman had. In that time the mayor and the chief have worked closely, and Harry, though he did not speak for the mayor, assured council Cordner was aware of and agreeable to the policy.

The policy formalizes the way complaints about the police department are handled, providing firm procedures that both protect the officers from unfounded complaints– and mete out appropriate consequences– and ensure that founded complaints are dealt with as well. Harry says the policy is based on the Commission for the Accreditation of Law Enforcement Agencies, a credible source of information even for unaccredited police departments.

Previously, before Hoffman's term, Harry handled complaints in a similar manner, but without this formal policy approval from council. In the last three years, he has not received any, although Hoffman did and they were determined to be unfounded.

Becker, too, was able to attest to the mayor's position on the policy. Cordner was not in attendance at the meeting due to a prior scheduling conflict. The decision was, however, entirely in council's hands. Council member Jean Nagle only gainsaid it based on a few questions she wished to discuss with the mayor, asking to delay the vote one more meeting.

Harry has also petitioned council for approval to install a video surveillance system at Borough Hall. The chief brought in surveillance experts "The Wired Guys" to make a presentation on the Avigilon computer system which currently serves several municipalities including Kutztown and Alburtis, as well as facilities like Bear Creek in Macungie. The proposed camera system rings in at $10,000, a line item Beckers says Macungie just can't squeeze into its budget this year. The item has been tabled for next year but Harry is optimistic rather than surprised, based on the estimated cost.

The petition comes just weeks after a man committed suicide outside Borough Hall in the middle of the night, raising attention to an already glaring absence of cameras in and around the police station and administrative center of Macungie. A camera was installed outside three years ago, but the police department was instructed to take it down and nothing has replaced it since. Harry says this system was outdated, without the capability to record, and didn't even belong to the borough; it belonged instead to an officer who offered its use to the police department.

The new system can view wide ranges in high definition detail, and focusing the camera on a smaller range of space only increases the clarity of the image. The video surveillance feeds into a data server and can be saved for anywhere from a month to a year, according to the borough's needs.

The police department would be able to view live footage of nighttime activity at the park, where recent problems with damaged property have arisen; or the cameras could link directly to the officers' cars, where Harry could instantly view anybody coming to the front door at Borough Hall, or tampering with cars in the parking lot. The cameras also feature infrared and thermal capacities, as well as recording features that allow detailed searching of any area's activities within seconds. The system is even capable of raising in effect an alarm by alerting the police department when a certain number of people are active in an area such as the park after nightfall, greatly decreasing response time, says Harry.

Garbage pick-up day could change to Wednesday or even Thursday, evidently to the distress of some residents, according to council member Debra Cope. A borough ordinance dictates trash cans must not be visible on the street front elevation of the property. For residents in town homes or other homes where it is not possible to observe the ordinance without storing garbage indoors, Cope says that would be undesirable. In the current system, garbage is collected on Sunday evenings, and many residents are putting garbage out early on Saturdays or Sundays with the result of frequent complaint.

The issue affects the zoning officer's responsibilities, as council decides whether he should be spending his time policing the borough for offending residences. Becker suggested each council member take a Sunday to drive through the borough to look for the problem occurring at residences throughout the borough. For now, garbage collection remains the same night.