The Edwardsville Borough Police Department has entered a cooperative agreement with an area apartment complex to put more police on patrol.
Community Realty Management, Inc., of Pleasantville, N.J., management group that owns both Eagle Ridge and Hilltop apartments in Edwardsville, agreed to pay the hourly rate of $12.46 for each of two officers the borough will be hiring within coming weeks, said Gary Mack, police committee chairman. In exchange, the police department will assign one of the officers to patrol the Eagle Ridge apartments.
At night, Mack said, a total of three officers will be on duty - two patrolling Edwardsville streets and one at the apartment complex.
Mack said the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development doesn't have a lot of security regulations and he and Police Chief David Souchick have been in talks for the last several months to find a way to boost police presence at the complex. He said federally subsidized, low-income housing projects tend to attract crime.
"We've been working on this to make sure what happened in Wilkes-Barre doesn't happened in Edwardsville," he said, referencing the city's troubled Sherman Hills Apartments.
When they approached Sherrie Culver, manager of Eagle Ridge Apartments, with the idea for a cooperative agreement, she took the proposal to Community Realty Management. Culver did not return messages seeking comment. Souchick also did not return messages.
The Edwardsville apartment complexes had a similar venture to ramp up security in 2000 when they were awarded a $250,000 grant by HUD. The salaries of two police officers were subsidized and security cameras were installed at the Edwardsville Apartments, now Eagle Ridge, and Hilltop Apartments, said former Edwardsville Police Chief John Soprano.
The goal in 2000 and the goal with this new agreement are the same: Help prevent crime.
"It is always better to be proactive and aggressive and avoid problems rather than to passively react to them once they occur. I am extremely proud of this positive and practical approach," Mack said.
jseibel@citizensvoice.com
570-821-2110, @cvseibel