Greg Bealer spoke to attendees at the Whitehall Township Crime Watch meeting Feb. 22. Bealer explained the role of his new position within the township and discussed the importance of citizen testimony and participation of citizens in criminal proceedings.

With the retirement of Lt. Ribello Bertoni in 2015, Bealer attained the position of patrol division commander with the promotional grade of lieutenant.

Bealer graduated from Emmaus High School and has a bachelor’s degree in criminology from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He went to Allentown Police Academy and began working in Whitehall December 1996.

“Right now I am the field training commander, I’m the patrol division commander and I am in charge of our fleet,” Bealer said.

The job duties Bealer performs sometimes involve a lot of work on the computer.

“I approve all of the reports that the department writes except for some that the detectives handle themselves,” Bealer said.

Since being in charge of the patrol division, Bealer also will go out often on a call during a major incident.

Bealer explained the importance of having an individual who witnessed a crime testify in court.

During a trial, Bealer said, “The person who witnessed [the crime], heard it or did it has to be there to say what happened. The court will not rely on us (police officers) to establish that case.

“And that’s why it’s so important that we have people who witness things who are willing to come to court for us,” Bealer said. “I can’t testify for you, or else it’s hearsay, and it’s thrown out.”

A resident in the crowd brought up the fact that Whitehall Township does not have a noise ordinance. Both Bealer and Whitehall Township Community Service Officer Paul Davis said a noise ordinance can be hard to enforce.

“There are certain things that we as officers can’t be offended by,” Davis said, because of certain regulations. “When we’re driving through a neighborhood and we’re hearing music, we can’t be offended by that music if it’s really loud. We would need somebody to say, ‘I’m offended by this,’” Davis continued.

There is nothing an officer can do to take a case to court without testimony from a community member, Bealer and Davis said.

In other crime watch meeting news, for reported incidents for the month of January, there were 29 accounts of fraud, 21 criminal mischiefs and two sex offenses.

Crime watch meetings are held the fourth Monday of each month in the public meeting room of the Whitehall Township Municipal Building, 3219 MacArthur Road. Meetings start 7 p.m. and are open to the public.

On March 28, the scheduled guest speaker will be Karen Korpics of The Center for Humanistic Change, presenting current trends in drugs and alcohol. Mayor Edward D. Hozza Jr. will visit April 25 for his State of the Township address.