Chief is Asking For 4 More Vice Detectives and a Supervisor
By Tracy Jordan, Allentown, Pa. Morning Call
Easton, Pa. Police Chief Stephen A. Mazzeo is pushing to upgrade the vice squad with four additional detectives and a supervisor to separate it from the criminal investigation unit and concentrate on infiltrating drug-dealing street gangs.
But for budgetary reasons, he’ll have to settle for one supervisor.
City Council voiced its support Tuesday for Mazzeo’s plan to create a lieutenant’s position within the vice squad to supervise the detectives in the unit, relieving the lieutenant in charge of the detectives in the criminal investigation unit of the duty.
City Councilwoman Carole Heffley said the change will aid the department in its crackdown on illegal drugs, but Councilman Michael P. Fleck made it clear he does not believe the city’s crime rises to the level of many people’s perception.
“I believe that we have a truly safe city overall,” Fleck said. “Our city has come a long way, and the public can be assured it’s not time to give up. We’re not surrendering. This is a city that has a lot going on.”
Mazzeo, who did not attend the meeting, would not disclose how many detectives work in the vice squad. A roster from last year indicated the squad had three detectives.
“The plan is to try to reorganize the vice unit so it’s more in line with modern policing and more in line with what Bethlehem and Allentown do,” Mazzeo said. “The guys are doing a fantastic job, but this is just a little reorganization to give them a little more direction and try to get a couple more investigators in there.”
Mazzeo is proposing four vice detectives be added to the squad to serve as the tactical narcotics team or street crimes unit, basically doing stops on the corners.
The other vice detectives would do more in-depth investigations, but Mazzeo said the plan would likely be nixed this time because of budgetary constraints.
The city is facing a $2 million deficit next year that will require increases in property and utility rates. The last few years, city officials looking to reduce expenses eliminated positions from nearly every department except the Police Department.
The police force gained an additional patrol officer this year, for a total of 64 officers, because the city won a contract to provide police services to West Easton.
City Council earlier this year approved an inspector position for the vice squad because the detective division already had an inspector.
Mazzeo said he has been unable to fill the inspector position because the most qualified candidates are sergeants, who would have had to take a pay cut to become an inspector.
Sergeants and lieutenants are members of the Fraternal Order of Police Washington Lodge 17 labor union, but inspectors, captains and the chief are not covered under the contract.
New patrol officers were not added when the supervisory positions were created, and FOP officials complained that the sergeants should not be promoted until the vacant patrol positions are filled.
Mazzeo said the department has three vacant slots that will be filled by spring.