West Chester Police Can Not Control West Chester University Students Drunken Behavior

Here is a copy of an email I sent to the Mayor, the Police Chief and Borough Council after another night of sleeplessness due to a Wild West atmosphere that is now the hallmark of life in our college neighborhoods.

Email:

Last night was particularly outrageous regarding behavior in the  college areas.  Shouting, screaming, and cursing began in earnest around 10:30 PM as drunken WCU students, their friends and other a-holes staggered toward further inebriation uptown.  The raucous behavior continued essentially unabated until about 2:45 AM this morning with remnants of the drunk and drugged screaming up to 4 AM.  As usual there was no police presence early on to send any kind of message that this is unacceptable and of course as the hour became late the police I’m sure were challenged with higher prioritized response needs.  Just the f’s and the fu’s counted in the 100’s and noise violations I’m sure in the many thousands.  The first thing my 12 year old daughter said this morning after saying good morning was, wow it was really noisy last night, I had to try and sleep with a pillow over my head.

Of course you have all heard this before as it is now considered institutionalized and normal for this environment to flourish.  Having said this, I still believe the police could do much more to set the tone for what is acceptable behavior early on in the evening when extensive deployment in the downtown may not be as important as it is later. I still feel there may be a leadership culture in the WCPD that does not consider it a top priority to address this problem head on and this attitude filters down through the rank and file.  I would like to have some open public discussions with police department leadership as to possible changes in their tactical approach to handling quality of life issues in the Borough.  A number of years back I suggested a Citizens Advisory Board to overlook the police department and it may just be time to revive this concept as it has served citizens well in other municipaliites and cities.


Joe Norley
610-344-3900
Community Journalist
Daily Local News
http://knowjoe.tumblr.com