The Lawncrest Civic Association Meeting has always been a very vocal gathering. The more than 80 people that turned out for Tuesday night’s meeting had great concern over the recent violence in the community.
William Glatz Jewelers has been a fixture on Rising Sun Avenue for over 40 years. After the recent murder of the well-known, friendly owner Bill Glatz, talk of the tragedy spewed talk for ways of future crime prevention.
Mark Mroz, community relations officer for the 2nd District, acknowledges that police did their job. The second suspect in the Glatz murder has been arrested.
“The shooting could have been prevented if someone at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility would not have let the robber, Kevin Turner, escape,” says Mroz.
It is now known to police that the suspects were casing the jewelry store for three days before the robbery occurred. John Perillo, a resident of the community, brought up the fact that police were not notified of the escape and questioned why.
“That’s a huge problem in reflecting on what happened here and what could have happened here,” Perillo says.
“I think there is some sort of conspiracy.”
Mroz had no idea why police were not alerted and informed. He told the group that a call should have been made to the police department when it was noticed the same two guys kept coming in and not buying anything in the jewelry store for three days in a row.
“If it looks, feels, smells no good—it probably is so give us a call,” Mroz says.
Residents at the meeting asked for more communication and prior knowledge on who police are looking for in the area. In the time before the meeting, Perillo gave Mroz the idea of handing out Most Wanted flyers at the community meetings to get the word out.
“I had planned on handing the flyers out at this meeting, but everyone on our list has been apprehended,” Mroz says.
The group blatantly sighed and laughed in relief. Residents seemed surprised to find out crime has gone down substantially in the community since last month. Mroz reminded the group not to get too ahead of themselves because the holidays are always a reason for crime to go back up. He left the group with some holiday dos and don’ts.
“Please don’t put items under the tree before the early hours or Christmas morning, don’t leave packages in the car, and don’t carry large sums of money or multiple credit cards with you at one time,” Mroz says. “And when you get a new big screen TV and put the box on the front yard for trash, cut the box up, turn it inside out and tie it up.”
By Nicole Dalrymple and Shaun Gallagher
Team 3: Northeast
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