Latest news with #MeadvillePoliceDepartment
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
City's Crimewatch site doomed by complaints
A Meadville Police Department website that had succeeded in its mission to enhance community engagement and help combat crime will be discontinued, the department announced Tuesday. Participation in Crimewatch comes to an end on Sunday, about 20 months after it was launched, and the end comes largely due to objections to the police blotter-style accounts of the department's arrests. The negative feedback persisted even after a deliberate shift in tone when concerns were aired during a Meadville City Council meeting in March, according to Chief Michael Stefanucci. Where the posts had sometimes taken a tongue-in-cheek approach to arrests and charges being reported, after that point there 'was less humor in them and just factual information,' he said. 'We still continued to get complaints of — 'We don't want our business or our nonprofit's name in there because that makes us look bad,' or 'Hey, I know that guy, he's a good guy, you shouldn't have put his name in there,' 'Hey, that person has mental health (issues), you shouldn't have put them in there,'' Stefanucci added. 'It just seems to be nonstop. Everybody has a reason not to want somebody in there or their business in there.' Like Stefanucci, City Manager Maryann Menanno pointed to 'relatively consistent complaints' in explaining the decision to end the city's subscription to the Crimewatch website. 'The cost of the subscription at this point isn't outweighing the amount of complaints we've had about it,' she said. Launched in October 2023, the Crimewatch site at cost the city $2,500 annually. It currently has 2,209 subscribers and has attracted nearly 51,000 page views this year. The city could continue to maintain the website without posting blotter entry accounts of police activity, but doing so wouldn't be worth the cost, according to Stefanucci, since it was the blotter entries that were responsible for the web traffic. 'If we're not posting the stories and the arrests, nobody's interested,' he said. 'When we started posting arrests that were made, misdemeanor and above only, we were picking up subscribers and page views — it was times ten. The numbers picked up insanely.' Finding the right balance between accounts that are both useful and unobjectionable would require more staff time than is feasible, according to Menanno. In addition to the arrest descriptions, the website offers visitors a chance to submit anonymous tips, register the location of their security cameras, pay parking fees, find other resources and more. Stefanucci said hundreds of tips had been received through the site and many had contributed to arrests. Most recently, Crimewatch tips had helped lead police to the arrest of four youths accused of assaulting another boy in an afterschool incident in Shadybrook Park. Other useful tips ranged from parents reporting where their underage children had been sold vaping products to numerous tips on the locations of people who had arrest warrants outstanding. One recent tip about a person with an outstanding warrant not only included the person's current location but also a picture of the person at that location, Stefanucci said. Another tip recently contributed to locating the whereabouts of a missing juvenile. Residents can still submit tips, the chief noted, but will have to call in to the department's dispatch desk at (814) 724-6100. Menanno acknowledged the appeal of increased anonymity through online tips, but said potential tipsters could still withhold their names or even mask their phone numbers if they called the department. Concerns about the Crimewatch site first became public in March when city resident John Hartnett addressed City Council after seeing a social media post that commented positively on the 'sense of funny' evident in the site's recent posts. While Hartnett commended the city for its effort at transparency, he questioned whether the seemingly cavalier attitude toward crime was fitting for a government site, especially since the people being identified on the site had not yet been convicted of the charges that were being reported. 'The statements seem kind of prejudicial, kind of stigmatizing,' Hartnett told council at the time. 'These narratives aren't becoming, I think, of something published by the city.' One account posted in late February, eight days before Hartnett addressed council, reported on a woman charged with misdemeanor counts of open lewdness and indecent exposure and a summary count of disorderly conduct. 'No happy meal for you,' the post began. 'With the recent nice weather we have had it seems to draw people out of the woodwork.' The post went on to describe how the woman allegedly opened her shirt to expose her sports bra to staff members behind the counter at Wendy's. 'As she left the restaurant,' the post continued, 'she pulled her shirt off and pulled down her pants to expose her buttocks and genitals to paying customers who probably did not have that on their 'things to see list' for the day.' Hartnett was happy to hear Tuesday that the site would be discontinued. Only a few days ago, he said, he had followed up on his address to council by meeting with Stefanucci and introducing him to a person who had been featured on the website. 'The article was not very nice,' Hartnett said. 'There's extenuating circumstances to every one of these stories, and we really need to humanize our neighbors that get involved in the criminal justice system rather than stigmatize them.'
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Yahoo
Police website draws criticism at City Council meeting
Instead of the lifeless cop-speak typical of most crime blotter reports, recent write-ups on Meadville Police Department's Crimewatch website have sounded more like checkout line tabloids or social media clickbait — and they're drawing attention, both positive and negative. The public comment portion of Meadville City Council's meeting Tuesday featured criticism of the new approach; earlier in the day, a post to social media drew more positive commentary. 'Five finger discount,' begins an entry on that was posted Monday. 'To be completely honest when I first saw that our local Walmart had a saved parking spot just for 'Law Enforcement,' I kinda laughed and thought do we really need that? I am no longer laughing. Most retail theft charges would be just a summary offense (first time offender and under $150 being taken) and those do not even make it into the Crime Watch. This individual decided to go bigger.' Underneath an italicized disclaimer explaining, 'Presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law,' the post goes on to describe how the defendant in question allegedly visited Walmart on Feb. 26 'to 'grab' a few items which he neglected to pay for.' According to the post, the stolen items included two Meta Quest virtual reality devices, two gallons of milk and two four-packs of watermelon-flavored Red Bull drinks — items worth more than $1,025, resulting in a felony charge of retail theft. After describing how city police spotted the suspect's car at a gas station and followed as it turned toward Interstate 79, the post imagines the man's reaction when he realized he was being pulled over. 'Picture this, you are in the car and just about ready to break out the Watermelon Red Bull, that you also stole, when you look into the rear-view mirror and see that 'Bubble Gum' machine coming right up your tail pipe,' the entry continues. 'It brings a smile to my face thinking about it.' The colorful account did not bring a smile to the faces of all readers. For at least one, in fact, it was the the post itself that set off metaphorical sirens. Addressing City Council near the end of the Tuesday meeting, John Hartnett, who was instrumental in the launch late last year of Shelter Area Meadville, applauded the effort at transparency that the police department's website represents. But he also questioned the approach of several recent entries. 'The statements seem kind of prejudicial, kind of stigmatizing,' he said. 'These narratives aren't becoming, I think, of something published by the city.' Particularly troubling, Hartnett continued, was the account of a man he had worked with at Shelter Area Meadville, which provides temporary housing inside Family Children & Community Association on especially cold nights. The post in question began 'saw this coming' and describes the defendant's 'escalating behaviors' over the course of several months, resulting in multiple formal warnings against trespassing at numerous city locations. He was arrested Feb. 25 after allegedly trespassing at Stone United Methodist Church, engaging in disorderly conduct, ignoring police commands and resisting arrest, according to city police. Mayor Jaime Kinder thanked Hartnett for bringing the issue to council's attention. After the meeting, she said she was unaware of the posts Hartnett referenced before he brought them to her attention just before the meeting. Launched in October 2023 through the CRIMEWATCH Technologies Inc. platform, Meadville Police Department's website is updated most weekdays with blotter entries documenting recent departmental activities. The site also allows residents to provide tips or to register security camera locations to aid the department in the event such cameras could provide useful evidence. Until recently, the daily updates provided generally dry accounts of police activity. A Nov. 26 account of a man charged with one misdemeanor and one summary count was typical: 'The Meadville City Police Department has filed open lewdness and disorderly conduct charges,' the post reads, 'following an incident in front of 792 North Main Street in which (the defendant is) accused of urinating on the front of the building in view of the public.' A post updated on Monday reveals a different approach to a similar incident in which a woman faces misdemeanor charges of indecent exposure and open lewdness and a summary charge of disorderly conduct. 'No happy meal for you,' the post begins. 'With the recent nice weather we have had it seems to draw people out of the woodwork.' The post goes to describe how on Feb. 24 a customer at Wendy's allegedly opened her shirt to expose her sports bra to staff members behind the counter. 'As she left the restaurant,' the post continues, 'she pulled her shirt off and pulled down her pants to expose her buttocks and genitals to paying customers who probably did not have that on their 'things to see list' for the day.' Last month, the job of writing the arrest reports was taken over by the city's new crisis intervention officer, Brian Swavey. In an interview at the time, Swavey said he had begun posting blotter entries after a pause of about six weeks in the updates following the retirement of another staff member. 'I'm putting a little spin on how they're put in there,' Swavey said. 'I'm not trying to put it in there as a police officer, I'm putting it in with a little more readability for the common person.' Swavey's strategy has its fans. Around midday Tuesday, Meadville business owner Rich Thomas copied and pasted the descriptions of both the Walmart shoplifting and the Wendy's indecent exposure cases to his Facebook page. 'Whoever the new police blotter author is, they sure have a sense of funny,' Thomas wrote, adding a 'rolling on the floor laughing' emoji. Swavey's style makes the entries both interesting and entertaining, Thomas said in a phone interview. Having read the entries faithfully for years, Thomas said it was easy to notice the recent change in authorship. 'Something like that puts a little twist on the story,' he said. After not commenting on the new entries for several weeks, Thomas said he liked the Walmart shoplifting entry so much that he felt compelled to express his appreciation. Within a few hours, 30 people had responded with positive reactions to the post. 'I just read this first thing this morning and it made my day!' one person commented on Thomas' post. At the same time, however, Thomas feared that drawing attention to the entries would lead to disappointing changes. The possibility occurred to at least one person who responded to his post. 'I love reading this too with new author,' she wrote. 'I hope they don't get replaced!'
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Yahoo
Police website draws criticism at City Council meeting
Instead of the lifeless cop-speak typical of most crime blotter reports, recent write-ups on Meadville Police Department's Crimewatch website have sounded more like checkout line tabloids or social media clickbait — and they're drawing attention, both positive and negative. The public comment portion of Meadville City Council's meeting Tuesday featured criticism of the new approach; earlier in the day, a post to social media drew more positive commentary. 'Five finger discount,' begins an entry on that was posted Monday. 'To be completely honest when I first saw that our local Walmart had a saved parking spot just for 'Law Enforcement,' I kinda laughed and thought do we really need that? I am no longer laughing. Most retail theft charges would be just a summary offense (first time offender and under $150 being taken) and those do not even make it into the Crime Watch. This individual decided to go bigger.' Underneath an italicized disclaimer explaining, 'Presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law,' the post goes on to describe how the defendant in question allegedly visited Walmart on Feb. 26 'to 'grab' a few items which he neglected to pay for.' According to the post, the stolen items included two Meta Quest virtual reality devices, two gallons of milk and two four-packs of watermelon-flavored Red Bull drinks — items worth more than $1,025, resulting in a felony charge of retail theft. After describing how city police spotted the suspect's car at a gas station and followed as it turned toward Interstate 79, the post imagines the man's reaction when he realized he was being pulled over. 'Picture this, you are in the car and just about ready to break out the Watermelon Red Bull, that you also stole, when you look into the rear-view mirror and see that 'Bubble Gum' machine coming right up your tail pipe,' the entry continues. 'It brings a smile to my face thinking about it.' The colorful account did not bring a smile to the faces of all readers. For at least one, in fact, it was the the post itself that set off metaphorical sirens. Addressing City Council near the end of the Tuesday meeting, John Hartnett, who was instrumental in the launch late last year of Shelter Area Meadville, applauded the effort at transparency that the police department's website represents. But he also questioned the approach of several recent entries. 'The statements seem kind of prejudicial, kind of stigmatizing,' he said. 'These narratives aren't becoming, I think, of something published by the city.' Particularly troubling, Hartnett continued, was the account of a man he had worked with at Shelter Area Meadville, which provides temporary housing inside Family Children & Community Association on especially cold nights. The post in question began 'saw this coming' and describes the defendant's 'escalating behaviors' over the course of several months, resulting in multiple formal warnings against trespassing at numerous city locations. He was arrested Feb. 25 after allegedly trespassing at Stone United Methodist Church, engaging in disorderly conduct, ignoring police commands and resisting arrest, according to city police. Mayor Jaime Kinder thanked Hartnett for bringing the issue to council's attention. After the meeting, she said she was unaware of the posts Hartnett referenced before he brought them to her attention just before the meeting. Launched in October 2023 through the CRIMEWATCH Technologies Inc. platform, Meadville Police Department's website is updated most weekdays with blotter entries documenting recent departmental activities. The site also allows residents to provide tips or to register security camera locations to aid the department in the event such cameras could provide useful evidence. Until recently, the daily updates provided generally dry accounts of police activity. A Nov. 26 account of a man charged with one misdemeanor and one summary count was typical: 'The Meadville City Police Department has filed open lewdness and disorderly conduct charges,' the post reads, 'following an incident in front of 792 North Main Street in which (the defendant is) accused of urinating on the front of the building in view of the public.' A post updated on Monday reveals a different approach to a similar incident in which a woman faces misdemeanor charges of indecent exposure and open lewdness and a summary charge of disorderly conduct. 'No happy meal for you,' the post begins. 'With the recent nice weather we have had it seems to draw people out of the woodwork.' The post goes to describe how on Feb. 24 a customer at Wendy's allegedly opened her shirt to expose her sports bra to staff members behind the counter. 'As she left the restaurant,' the post continues, 'she pulled her shirt off and pulled down her pants to expose her buttocks and genitals to paying customers who probably did not have that on their 'things to see list' for the day.' Last month, the job of writing the arrest reports was taken over by the city's new crisis intervention officer, Brian Swavey. In an interview at the time, Swavey said he had begun posting blotter entries after a pause of about six weeks in the updates following the retirement of another staff member. 'I'm putting a little spin on how they're put in there,' Swavey said. 'I'm not trying to put it in there as a police officer, I'm putting it in with a little more readability for the common person.' Swavey's strategy has its fans. Around midday Tuesday, Meadville business owner Rich Thomas copied and pasted the descriptions of both the Walmart shoplifting and the Wendy's indecent exposure cases to his Facebook page. 'Whoever the new police blotter author is, they sure have a sense of funny,' Thomas wrote, adding a 'rolling on the floor laughing' emoji. Swavey's style makes the entries both interesting and entertaining, Thomas said in a phone interview. Having read the entries faithfully for years, Thomas said it was easy to notice the recent change in authorship. 'Something like that puts a little twist on the story,' he said. After not commenting on the new entries for several weeks, Thomas said he liked the Walmart shoplifting entry so much that he felt compelled to express his appreciation. Within a few hours, 30 people had responded with positive reactions to the post. 'I just read this first thing this morning and it made my day!' one person commented on Thomas' post. At the same time, however, Thomas feared that drawing attention to the entries would lead to disappointing changes. The possibility occurred to at least one person who responded to his post. 'I love reading this too with new author,' she wrote. 'I hope they don't get replaced!'
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Yahoo
Meadville community unites to support EBT card scam victims
We told you last week people in Meadville were having their SNAP benefits stolen, leaving them without a way to buy food, for an entire month. But now the community is coming together, to make sure no one goes hungry. Representatives from the Meadville Police Department and the Family Children and Community Association (FCCA) hosted a food giveaway on Chestnut Street Thursday night making sure victims of the SNAP benefit hacks will have food on the table. Crawford Co. residents impacted by stolen SNAP benefits Angela Edwards had double-checked to make sure her SNAP benefits were on her EBT card, but when she woke up the next day, everything was gone. She called a couple of friends to see if they were having issues and was able to confirm the sad truth, she had been scammed. 'I go down to the welfare office. They had me turn in my card, pulled it up on the account, showed me the transactions. I said, 'I didn't do that,'' she said. Edwards said she then went to the police station to file a report, joining more than 70 other Meadville residents who had also been scammed. New Grocery Outlet officially opens in Meadville 'It's like, what do you do for that whole month? And then, what if it happened again? What if it happened again? Don't know,' she said. As just one person, Edwards said she'll survive but feels for the families who rely on that money to feed their kids. Now, to help out those families affected by the EBT scams, the Meadville Police and the FCCA are loading up these bags with turkeys, hams, canned goods, cookies, you name it, they got it. 'We just wanted to give back. We wanted to make sure that everyone is able to eat at the end of the day. They shouldn't have to go hungry and their families shouldn't have to go hungry because of a scam,' said Jackie Roberson, FCCA executive director. City of Erie adds two new positions to battle blight in rental housing A spokesperson from the PA Department of Human Services said the EBT accounts were hacked through skimming which is when a data-stealing device is placed on top of a card reader. But with the proper police documentation saying they were scammed, the hacking victims could come to the FCCA building on Chestnut Street for a free bag of groceries. 'We're trying to support our community, so the police department, the fraternal order of police, our lodge, bought a lot of the food and then Jackie had some from the FCCA so we just kind of merged together to come together and serve the community,' Brian Swavey, crisis intervention officer for Meadville police, went on to say. The FCCA and Meadville police will be distributing food for scam victims again Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Yahoo
Gone in a SNAP: Those who lost benefits in e-theft won't get money replaced
Area residents who apparently had their federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits stolen electronically earlier this month have one thing in common — they won't be getting those lost funds replaced. Total benefit losses are estimated at more than $10,000 for the at least 71 Meadville residents who filed theft reports with Meadville Police Department on Feb. 12 and 13, Chief Michael Stefanucci told The Meadville Tribune. Additionally, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) said it received 105 cases of benefit theft from Crawford County on those two days. However, some of the 105 DHS reports could overlap with the 71 city police reports, according to the department. The residents had their electronic benefits transfer (EBT) accounts drained after a scheduled Feb. 12 disbursement of SNAP benefits, Stefanucci said. The actual total loss is even more than $10,000 with the likelihood there were additional cases that just weren't reported, the chief added. Those impacted won't have the lost funds replaced, Brandon Cwalina, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services, said in an email Thursday to the Tribune. 'It is accurate that benefits stolen after December 20, 2024, cannot be replaced due to the end of Congressional authorization,' Cwalina wrote. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers SNAP, had federal policy requiring states to replace benefits stolen in card skimming or cloning crimes between Oct. 1, 2022, and Dec. 20. 2024. But, Congress did not authorize an extension of the funds-replacement policy. 'We believe it was cyber-based,' Stefanucci said of how so many accounts locally were impacted at the same time. The victims' accounts had charges being made to their cards all over the country, suggesting it was an organized effort that could be selling the account information. 'The (account) numbers could have been taken two months ago and they were just waiting for a (monthly) reload (of funds),' Stefanucci said. 'It was a 'hit and move on' crime.' There was no indication the individual accounts had been hacked. Also, Stefanucci said officers checked area retailers that sell grocery items, but they did not find any skimming devices attached to point-of-sale card reading machines. A skimmer attaches to an ATM (automated teller machine) or other card-reading device. Disguised to look like part of the machine, the skimmer is then used to steal credit or debit card information when a customer inserts a card. Congressman Mike Kelly, a Republican whose district includes Crawford County, 'has received very few inquiries regarding the reported EBT thefts and investigations ongoing in the region,' Matt Knoedler, spokseman for Kelly, said in an email Thursday. 'At this time, we cannot comment on potential legislative action,' Knoedler added about possible renewal of the funds replacement benefit. 'But, we are continuing to monitor and review this matter at the federal level.' Meanwhile, state Sen. Michele Brooks, a Republican whose district includes all of Crawford County, calls the EBT thefts 'a national crisis.' 'It's happening throughout the country,' she said. The state Department of Human Services is looking at different ways potentially to safeguard accounts, Brooks added. One change would be making the four-digit personal identification number a six-digit number instead. Another would be to embed all EBT cards with a computer chip and make sure all point-of-sale terminals are chip readers. However, preliminary estimates are that could cost $7 million to $7.5 million for a complete rollout. 'We're trying to make it more complicated (to steal information) by making it more secure,' Brooks said. 'It (SNAP) is a federal program, but we need to have a conversation between the feds and the state. We need to work together and there needs to be a greater effort to mitigate scams.' State Rep. Brad Roae, a Republican whose district covers Meadville and central and western Crawford County, said he sympathizes with those who lost funds but noted it's up to Congress to authorize replacement of benefits, not Pennsylvania. 'Where would we get the the money (at the state level)?' Roae said. 'I don't know how it would work. It's a federal program. If the state refunded money, we'd have to cut somewhere else to offset the costs.'
