Scrantons First Police
Headquarters
A top priority as Police Chief for the City of Scranton was the creation of Scranton's first police headquarters, a 20,000 square-foot building with a 3.5 million dollar budget. Scranton Police went from using space at the old DPW complex on Providence Road to the basement of City Hall to the Parking Garage at the Mall at Steamtown prior to the commitment by Mayor Chris Doherty and his administration. With this move, police headquarters became a reality creating a more secure facility for police and allowed officers to perform their duties more proficiently.
Citizen Police Academy
Scranton started its first Citizen Police Academy to give residents and those interested in a career in law enforcement an inside look at what officers deal with on a daily basis. Students spend their time in the classroom hearing from members of the department speaking about the different aspects of policing and what the department has to offer; Patrol, Crime Scene Investigations, Arson, Bomb Unit, S.W.A.T and Criminal Investigations to name a few. The class ends with a chance to do a ride-along with an officer during a shift. The cost of the program was covered through a state grant.
National Night Out
As a member of Fight Crime: Invest in Kids, Elliott has stressed the value of early education compared to later incarceration. Elliott has attended press conferences, and written editorials stressing the need for adequate funding for Pre-K and Early Education. "we can't imprison our way out of the crime problem these days". Elliott said during a tour of the treasure house on Ash Street.
Improved Training for Officers and Staff
When I took over as Chief of Police , one of my first actions was to improve officer training. As I looked at the training records from previous years, and noticed that officers were not being offered training that would help them perform their duties outside of state mandated training. I began to take advantage of the fee trainings provided by the state and federal agencies. i would also bring in experts in the law enforcement community to train officers.
Training in specialized areas was increased four times over since taking over and we were able to do this with the same budget.
I plan on increasing training for all deputies in specialized areas from day one. In addition I would put in place a field training program for all new hires. Certified Field Training Officers would train and certify the new hires.
Developed Policies and Procedures
One key area as a law enforcement administrator is making sure you department has clearly defined expectations of its officers policy and procedure manual along with clearly defined rules and regulations.
You cannot wait until something happens to write a policy about a certain action. The local Sheriff's and Police associations are there to help agencies be proactive in this administrative duty. During my time as Chief of Police, I was able to re-write and initiate new policies affecting law enforcement today. I was also able to update rules and regulations that have not been reviewed since the seventies.
By effectively communicating expectations to deputies, we can establish accountability and responsibilities for the department.
Developed Safe Schools Committee
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Scranton had six officers assigned to Scranton Intermediate and High Schools through a federal grant. When these federal grants expired, Chief Elliott and Superintendent Michael Sheridan worked out an agreement to keep officers in the schools without any interruption. Scranton School District agreed to fund half of the officers salaries allowing officers to continue working in the schools on a daily basis.
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Awarded Department of Justice Grant to increase security at local schools. Chief Elliott said grant would be used to install security cameras at City high schools; West Scranton, Scranton and Bishop Hannan
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Developed a "Be - Safe" program for all second grade students. This program, co-authored by a SSD teacher (Megan Sheakoski) and Chief Elliott met Department of Education standards and was funded through a State Grant awarded to the Scranton Police Department
Reduced Overtime
Overtime speeding is out of control, spending more than two million in overtime in just the past two years alone, while going over budget every year for the past six years.
The City of Scranton was in the same position when I took over. It became a top priority in our administration to get a handle on the overtime spending. In my first year by reducing overtime by hundreds of thousands of dollars. In my first four years, overtime hours was reduced from 17,373 hours of overtime to 3,194 overtime hours.
As a law enforcement administrator, there is no use for wasteful spending. Money saved can benefit the tax payer and also be used in other needed areas such as training.
Reinstated and Improved Department k-9 Unit
k9 units have a unique impact on the community, serving many missions from drug enforcement to search and rescue to apprehension. They also serve as ambassadors for the department, appearing at special events for public relations.
After years of having the unit disbanded, within my first year I felt the need to bring back the k9 unit with the best dogs and training offered to law enforcement. We immediately purchased two dogs and sent the dogs and handlers to the Philadelphia training academy for canines. My goal was to have a k9 officer on each shift. By the end of my tenure, we were up to four k9s in the department with numerous success stories.
The return of the k9 unit was a well worthwhile investment
Improved Crime Rates
