Regional Crime Data Center Planned

It was teatime Wednesday night at the Lehigh County Commissioners meeting with tea party activists doing some grilling.

In issues ranging from the creation of a regional crime data center to replacing the term “mental retardation” in county policy, audience members peppered officials with questions about costs.

Commissioner Daniel McCarthy and District Attorney James Martin described the plan to develop a $3.9 million crime data center in the building at Seventh and Hamilton streets that houses the 911 dispatch center. Of that, it expects to pay Computer Aid Inc. of Allentown a maximum of $2.8 million to develop software that will integrate information from the county’s 17 police departments, plus state police and other law enforcement agencies. Computer Aid helped New York City develop a similar crime data center.

Four crime analysts will be charged with finding patterns in criminal activity throughout the region to help local law enforcement solve crimes more quickly, McCarthy said.

The county secured $1.3 million in federal grants and earmarked about $500,000 in the 2011 county budget to pay for the data center it hopes to open this year.  It’s going after more grants to help pay for the facility and expects other counties that join up to pay user fees, Martin said.

Northampton County is interested but bowed out last year because of the cost, he said.

Lisa Scheller of Allentown, a candidate for county commissioner, said she’s all for capturing criminals but questioned whether Lehigh County could be stuck footing a large bill if other counties don’t sign on. “What about ongoing continuing costs?” she asked.

 “Crime is already costing us significantly,” Commissioner David Jones said. “What DA Martin is suggesting is that we upgrade the infrastructure of our ability to not only arrest but to predict and curtail crime.”

John Donches, best known for his “Strike Out the Stadium” campaign opposing Emmaus’ plan to do extensive renovations to the Emmaus Community Park baseball field, said what citizens most need is jobs to give them an alternative to crime. 

But the county’s ability to attract businesses to create jobs hinges on keeping crime under control, according to Commissioner Andy Roman. “No one is going to do business when their safety is threatened,” he said.

“Can you tell me if this system includes anything having to do with keeping track of the illegal aliens that have been devastating our country with a lot of crime?” asked William Antrim of Whitehall Township.

Martin responded that if illegal immigrants “pop up” in a criminal investigation, they would be referred to U.S. Immigration and Customers Enforcement. 

Earlier in the evening, the commissioners voted unanimously to change the county’s Office of Mental Health/Mental Retardation to the Office of Mental Health/Intellectual Disabilities but not before activists questioned whether there was a hidden agenda in the name change.

Commissioner Gloria Hamm said the change will bring the county in line with the federal “Rosa’s Law” enacted last year. It was named for Rosa Marcellino, a Maryland girl with Down syndrome, whose family made it their mission to get state and federal governments to change the way they refer to people with such disabilities. Hamm said it won’t cost the county because the office will continue to use its current letterhead until it’s used up.

 Allentown residents Jill Malsberger and Janice Bowman said they were concerned that changing the clinical term “mental retardation” to “intellectual disabilities” could be a way to redefine who is eligible for services.

“I think that you’ll find that it’s going to cost money or the people in the department will be wasting time,” Marlsberger said. “The federal government could be changing the definition on us and expanding government and services.” 

 But Paulette Hunter of Allentown, who has a son with such disabilities, denied that the name change would expand who is eligible for services. It’s going to remove a word used to stigmatize people like her son, she said.

“It’s just changing the name so people see my son as a person with intellectual disabilities, not ‘that retarded boy,’” she said. “So I’m asking you and begging you that you allow this to go through.”

 Prior to the meeting, Karen Grady, director of The Arc of Lehigh and Northampton counties, applauded the proposal, saying the national Arc changed its name from “Association for Retarded Citizens” to The Arc in 1992. 

 “The R word is used as slang and in a mean-spirited or derogatory way,” Grady said. “It really does stigmatize and hurt people with intellectual disabilities…it makes them appear to be less than equal to people who don’t have intellectual abilities.”