Proposed Changes to Gaming Investigative Duties

Legislation has been introduced to move the Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement (BIE) from the Gaming Control Board to the Pennsylvania State Police.
The BIE conducts background checks on casino license applicants, among other duties. Republican State Representative Ronald Marsico of Dauphin County says he introduced the bill in part because of past actions of the Gaming Control Board.
"I guess it was back in 2008. There were some problems with the Gaming Control Board and its inability to access appropriate criminal background information concerning license applicants, and these issues have cast a cloud over Pennsylvania's gaming industry."
Marsico says that the State Police have already expressed willingness to take on the responsibilities and while it would expand their current budget it would only do so by a little.

This comes after a similar bill was introduced in March by Republican Representative Mike Vereb to have the BIE moved to the Attorney General's Office. The Attorney General supported the legislation but conceded the switch would take time and money.

Marsico says that he would be fine with either the Attorney General or State Police taking over the duties as long as it was out of the Gaming Control Board's hands. He says that he will soon ask the Chair of the House Gaming Oversight Committee to move the bill to hearings or a vote.

Hearing on DNA Backlog Finds Progress

When Pennsylvania State Representative Larry Farnese (D- Philadelphia) learned that a serial rapist in his hometown might have been able to continue his crime spree because police did not have DNA evidence that could have linked him to multiple crimes, he called for a hearing to find out what was going on with the system. Police records show they had the DNA of the accused rapist in hand for nearly three months before it was added to the database where it could be matched to the other crimes.

What Farnese found was that at one time the state DNA lab was working with an 80-day backlog, which has been whittled down to 60 days in recent months. Farnese says the goal is to get it down to 14 days in the near future. However, he notes that in many European countries a one-week backlog is considered to be unacceptable.

Farnese says during the hearing it became clear to him that the employees in the lab are working as hard as they can. He says the number of employees and the equipment available limits the lab’s workload.

While funding levels were not specifically part of the hearing, Farnese says there was discussion on how to best use the state’s assets, including privatization options. “We determined based upon the hearing that it would cost more to box, protect and ship, then get them back and upload those samples, than it would to do it in house,” says Farnese. “So it is actually more inefficient to ship these to a third party testing lab.” Farnese says last year the state lab processed DNA samples from 1,924 active crime cases and uploaded 23,938 DNA profiles to the database.

The hearing comes as legislation that would increase the number of crimes for which DNA testing is done is making its way through the state legislature. Some believe that bill could increase the number of DNA samples processed by the lab by 400%.

State Police Commissioner: New DNA Testing Would Swamp Dept.

A new bill expanding Pennsylvania’s DNA testing is raising logistical concerns for the Commonwealth’s acting State Police Commissioner.

The measure, authored by Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi, would collect DNA samples from people arrested for felonies and eight misdemeanors. The legislation broadens the scope of crimes leading to automatic DNA tests. It also shifts the timing of the swabbing, from after a conviction to after arrest. The bill would require the destruction of DNA samples for people found “not guilty.”

Governor Tom Corbett , Pennsylvania's former Attorney General, hasn't decided if he would sign the measure if it's passed.

"I don’t have a problem with a database of somebody who has been arrested and convicted. I think they have to be convicted. I haven’t read the bill so give me fair comment, but my personal opinion: if somebody is arrested, if you’re going to take DNA it has to be -- arrested, take the DNA, but it goes in a database after conviction."

At a recent budget hearing, Acting Commissioner Frank Noonan said the legislation would increase Pennsylvania’s DNA processing caseloads by 400 percent. “We will need about 35 analysts. The equipment’s very expensive. We would have to consume other equipment, as well as a facility,” he said. “And the one thing – I would just like to caution it is not something that people could say, ‘ok, go and do it,’ and we could just flip a switch. … It would take at least a year for us to get ready. It takes at least a year to train these analysts. So it’s something that – if we do decide to do it it has to be planned, there has to be a planned growth to our DNA laboratory.”

Noonan says the increase could cost more than $13 million dollars. A Pileggi spokesman is skeptical of the estimate, saying other states have made similar transitions at a cost of less than $2 million.

Proposed Fees For Towns That Rely On State Police

As municipalities across Pennsylvania trim or eliminate their police departments due to budget cuts, the State Police say they’re being spread thin.
Colonel Frank Noonan, acting State Police Commissioner, says more troopers are needed. He says State Police cover about 27 percent of Pennsylvania's population as the sole law enforcement department.

"They’re small populations. So that doesn’t look like, well, that’s not that many people. But they’re spread out so far. So it increases our response time to do things in a safe manner, and things like that. So that’s a problem. But another issue is now some of the larger communities that are facing reductions, not eliminations, of their police departments.

Governor Tom Corbett has included training money in his budget for 230 new state troopers, but Noonan, says the agency is about 400 officers below a full compliment.

"It’s my understanding that over the last, about, three years, there’s been about 58 municipalities that have either eliminated or reduced their police departments. I mean, State Police stands ready. We are the last resort. If you don’t have police, obviously, we are the ones who have to go in there and do it. But it does stretch us thin sometimes."

Bills in front of both the House and Senate would charge fees to municipalities relying on State Police protection. Similar measures have been introduced in previous years, but have never been passed into law.

PA Revamps Megan’s Law Web

Pennsylvania’s Megan’s Law website has been upgraded by the PA State Police to now include what they believe is a more user-friendly interface. The website list information about registered sex offenders living in Pennsylvania. In the past, individuals have been able to search for offenders by community name or zip code. The site now allows users to enter an address and then search for offenders within a given radius. “It also has a Sondex feature that takes the name entered by the user and provides a list of individuals with that name and similar sounding names,” says PA State Police Spokesperson Jack Lewis.

The site continues to offer visitors a chance to submit a tip and it list sex offenders whose whereabouts are unknown. For each sex offender the site includes a picture, an address and the offense for which they were found guilty. Lewis says it also notes if they are considered to be “sexual offenders” or a “sexually violent predator.” It also lists if they are required to be registered for life or if they are only required to let the state know where they are for the next 10 years.

Lewis says State Police would like to add even more functionality. “We would like to be able to add an electronic community notification feature that would allow users to receive notifications about Megan’s Law offenders via email or text messages but in order for that to happen we would have to have some changes in the law by the state legislature,” says Lewis

Visitors to the website are forced to accept terms of use. “We certainly are concerned that people will misuse the site by locating a sex offender and then harassing them in some way,” says Lewis, “That would be a violation of the law.”

State police officials say the site gets about 7,000 hits a day.

Holiday Travelers Encouraged to Be Safe

As always, travelers are encouraged to drive cautiously during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays this year. PennDOT is partnering with state and local police forces to ensure the safety of all drivers in a year that AAA says will feature more travelers than last.

AAA projects an 11.4 percent increase in travelers going more than 50 miles to enjoy family and food this Thanksgiving. AAA spokeswoman Bevi Powell said the improved economy is likely one reason for the increase in travelers this year.

“Last year some of the American travelers may have postponed their trip but this year some of the Americans are in a different financial position,” Powell said.

According to AAA, about 1.11 million travelers will drive to reach their destination and PennDot, law enforcement, and AAA all advise drivers to proceed with caution during holiday traveling.

“We’re really asking drivers to think about safety while their driving,” Alison Wenger, a spokesperson for PennDOT says. “Whether that’s wearing their seatbelt or designating a driver if they’re impaired or unable to drive. Also watch for aggressive drivers on the highway.”

PennDOT will have sobriety checkpoints, along with regular police patrols to ensure drivers safety. They also are conducting Click It or Ticket seat belt enforcement for the holiday season, and if a driver is pulled over for a driving violation and doesn’t have his or her seatbelt on, they are subject to a second citation.

More than 500 of the reported 4,500 accidents last holiday season were alcohol-related and in an attempt to reduce that number, AAA is running a “Take the Pledge” viral campaign that asks drivers to be responsible and let another drive is they are impaired.

“We’re asking people to go online and go to www.takethepledge.aaa.com, sign up that you are committing to drive sober and also to pass that message on their Facebook and email it to their friends and family,” Powell says.

The best advice Powell and Wenger have to offer is to plan ahead for your trip and leave early.

“If you’re flying make sure you that you arrive at the airport at least two hours in advance,” Powell says. “If you’re driving make sure that you leave yourself enough time that you can leave safely and not feel rushed.”

Report Shows Decline in Number of PA Police Pursuits

A annual report by the Pennsylvania State Police shows a 12.9 percent decrease in police pursuits in 2009 from 2008. In 2008, the state reported 1,816 vehicle pursuits, 9 of which resulted in fatality. Last year, 1,582 pursuits were recorded, with 8 deaths. All 8 of those killed were fleeing from police.
According to the report, 532 of the 2009 police pursuits resulted in crashes, with 185 of them involving injuries. In 2008, 606 pursuits ended with an accident, and 212 of them involved injuries.
Press Secretary Jack Lewis says the number of police pursuits has been gradually declining in recent years. However, he says this has been the most significant decrease.
Lewis says this could be a result of less people taking that risk of fleeing from police, or police using less aggressive tactics when pursuing a vehicle. He says about 57% of all apprehensions of people in fleeing vehicles were accomplished using whats called a trailing pursuit, which is when the officer tries to follow the vehicle in attempt to pull it over rather than going ahead of it and trying to cut it off. "So since trailing pursuits are the least aggressive type of pursuit we're hopeful that departments are using those in attempt to cut down on the number of injuries and death."
The complete 2009 Pennsylvania Police Pursuit Report can be found on their website.

FracNet and TrashNet to Expand

Trash and hydraulic fracturing fluid haulers have been put on notice by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the State Police that they will increase their enforcement of truck safety laws. DEP Secretary John Hanger says, “I wish I was exaggerating when I says that there are roads that are being destroyed and that have been literally turned into mud and made impassable for all motorists including emergency responders.” The DEP will up its funding of unannounced roadside inspections, commonly known as FracNet and TrashNet from the current $300,000 to $550,000. In the first half of 2010, roadside inspections by the state police and DEP found that more than 40 percent of the large trucks serving the Marcellus Shale natural gas industry were operating in violation of state motor carrier safety regulations. Nationally, since 2006, the trucking industry averaged only a 23-30 percent out-of-service violation rate. In June, a three-day enforcement effort involving DEP, state police, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and the federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration focused on trucks hauling waste water from Marcellus Shale gas drilling operations and resulted in 250 commercial vehicles being placed out of service for various vehicle safety deficiencies. Hanger says the message is not getting out that this must stop. He says the penalty now is a fine and having a truck taken out of service but he says it is incumbent upon the drillers hiring the trucking companies to not hire firms with poor safety records.

The additional $250,000 will come from the Waste Transportation Safety Account, which is supported by fees, fines and penalties paid by the waste-hauling industry. “It is important to point out that money is not coming from the general fund,” says Hanger. However, Hanger is quick to opine that it is a shame that any money should have to be spent on special enforcement to encourage hauling companies to obey the law.

The DEP says the vehicles are checked for weight and leakage, the presence of working fire extinguishers and to verify that loads are properly enclosed and secured. State police teams check vehicle braking systems, exterior lighting and other equipment that play a role in operational safety. They also check drivers for appropriate operator licenses.

31 Truck Drivers Removed From Service After Enforcement Effort

A one day enforcement effort of inspecting commercial vehicles on rural roads and non interstate highways by the Pennsylvania State Police has resulted in 219 trucks and 31 drivers being taken out of service. Jack Lewis, PA State Police spokesperson says the reason for the enforcement effort is that 50% of truck crashes occur on rural roads and non interstate highways. Lewis says the only way to cut back on the number of violations is through enforcement efforts. A total of 1,255 commercial vehicles were inspected with 771 citations being issued and 1,720 written warnings being given. Lewis says those numbers were up from the last enforcement effort that took place in October.

Dozens of Speeders Snagged

Pennsylvania State Police were out in force today on Interstate 79 in the western suburbs of Pittsburgh cracking down on speeders. Between 8:30 this morning and 1 o'clock this afternoon, an average of 8 state troopers pulled over speeders and issued 106 citations near the Carnegie Exit in Collier Township.
Trooper Robin Mungo says some drivers could have received multiple citations such as driving without a seat belt which is a secondary offense. That citation can only be issued after a driver is pulled over for a primary offense such as speeding or reckless driving.
Mungo says that the speeders were going much faster than the 55 MPH posted limit..."we didn't pull over anyone unless they were traveling at least 80 miles per hour....the fastest was (clocked at) 92 miles per hour."
Mungo says you might think that motorists would have slowed down when they saw others pulled over but "they are so focused on their destination" they don't even see the state troopers "because of that tunnel vision."
Mungo says this stretch of I-79 seems to get more than its share of speeders.

Fee Proposed for Some Towns That Use State Police

A PennsylvaniaHouse committee is preparing to take up a bill imposing fees on municipalities that rely on state police protection.
The idea isn’t new, and previous bills charging fees to local governments for state police protection haven’t gotten far. But House Local Government Committee Chairman Robert Freeman, a Northampton County Democrat, says another tough fiscal year will force lawmakers to find new revenue sources everywhere they can.
The panel will likely vote soon on a measure charging a hundred dollar-a-resident fee to municipalities with populations above 10-thousand who don’t have their own police forces. Freeman says it’s a matter of fairness.

"When you have communities of 34 or 40-thousand population there’s obviously a sufficient tax base to afford their own police force, and they rely on free state police services, there’s something wrong with that."

The measure’s sponsor, Armstrong County Democrat John Pallone, says the bill would generate 41 to 42 million dollars a year. He wants all of the revenue to go to the State Police, but Freeman says the bill will likely be amended before a vote.
Lawmakers who oppose the measure such as Representative Jerry Knowles, a Berks County Republican, says local governments don’t have the money to pay the proposed fee.

"It would mean dramatic tax increases. People are already paying enough taxes. It would be boggling. I was a local government official for many years. This would be boggling – it would be devastating to local government budgets."


But Lancaster County Republican Mike Sturla, who introduced a similar measure, says municipalities need to pay their fair share.

Killed in Duty Death Benefits

A state senator is pushing a bill that would provide uniform benefits throughout the Commonwealth to public safety workers killed in the line of duty. Senator Sean Logan, a Democrat representing Allegheny and Westmoreland counties, says the current system has inequalities because each municipality has its own death benefit plan. Some municipalities don't provide anything.

"If you get killed in Pittsburgh, or if you get killed in Scranton or Erie or in Monroeville, the benefit to your spouse or children should be the same," he says.

Senate Bill 369 applies to paid firefighters, law enforcement officers and ambulance service or rescue squad members. If killed in the line of duty, this bill would give the amount of the worker's monthly salary to the recipient. Money that isn't covered by workers compensation the state would absorb.

Although Logan says he would like to, benefits cannot be provided retroactively because it is considered unconstitutional. Therefore, families of the three Pittsburgh Police officers killed in Stanton Heights in April would not have these benefits, if this bill passes in the State House.

The bill passed in the State Senate last year, but died in State House at the end of the session. It recently passed unanimously in Senate, and is going to House to be voted on.

Police Chases Down in PA

In 2008 there were 1,809 police vehicle pursuits, a drop of 6.3% from 2007. Fatalities resulting from the chases also fell from 13 to nine. The number of chases in Pennsylvania has been on the decline since 2002. Jack Lewis of the Pennsylvania State Police says that departments are becoming more reluctant to get involved in pursuits because of the risk to the public and to officers. He says police are increasingly choosing to trail suspects– keeping the car in sight instead of attempting to overtake it. Deciding whether to chase down a suspect is not up to individual officers– under state law every police department has its own set of guidelines for when police should initiate, continue or terminate a pursuit.

Police Pursuits Down 9%

Police officers in Pennsylvania were involved in nearly 200 fewer pursuits last year than in 2006. The State Police issued their annual pursuit report which shows the total number of pursuits at 1,931--down from 2,115 in 2006--with 1,387 of the suspects being apprehended. Corporal Linette Quinn says the decrease is a result of more stringent police policies on pursuits and better public education about compliance with police officers. Quinn also says that the public is becoming aware of the dangers of pursuits. In 2007, pursuits resulted 652 crashes, 218 injuries, and 13 deaths. The report is available on the State Police's website under the Uniform Crime Report (UCR).