Reading PA hires private security contractor to patrol Pagoda, other city parks
Reading PA May 14 2020
Reading City Council hired a security company Monday night to deal with the crowds at the Pagoda.
Council voted 7-0 to approve a two-year, $125,000 contract with Security Guards Inc. in Wyomissing. The company will provide security to the Pagoda and other city-owned parks for a minimum of eight months. Security guards are expected to patrol seven days a week from dusk to dawn. Former Mayor Wally Scott’s administration put the contract out for bid last year.
Council and Mayor Eddie Moran’s administration hope the guards will be a deterrent to the unruly crowds that gather at the Pagoda.
“The security guard contract would put additional boots on the ground to physically patrol and keep order at not only the Pagoda but some of other city facilities,” said Managing Director Pedro Cortes.
Administrative Services Director Jamar Kelly said the guards would cover all city parks with a focus on the Pagoda.
Guards will work 12-hour shifts, and it is up to the company to provide staffing and a vehicle. The city will provide gasoline.
The security guards will not have any enforcement powers and will be there only to observe, monitor and report, Kelly said.
“They have a quick link to the police department to get a unit up there to respond (to a complaint) on a more regular and consistent basis,” he said. “Instead of the one-off complaints from a resident driving by, it will be regularly patrolled.”
The renewed call for enforcement at the Pagoda came after Councilman Stratton Marmarou observed large, unruly crowds earlier this month. Monday night he voiced his displeasure with the security guard contract and said it needed to go further.
“When we were having problems in the past, we put extra people up there in uniform,” he said. “We stopped it by making arrests, and that’s what has to take place.”
City Clerk Linda Kelleher said that Central Berks Regional Police Department and Reading police have a live video link to the Pagoda.
“Anytime there is a call, they can check that video link to see the accuracy of the call,” she said.
Kelleher also asked Reading Police Chief Richard Tornielli if it would cost more than $125,000 to have police officers patrol the Pagoda for 12 hours a day over an eight-month period.
Tornielli said he believes it would cost about $200,000.
“We would have to have someone on overtime because we can’t support that amount of time off of the regular shifts,” he said.
The police department has assigned two officers to patrol the Pagoda from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
“We’ve been having officers up there the better part of a month. Once the weather started to break we kind of made it a point to have that added to our deployment plans,” Tornielli said.
Lower Alsace Township Manager Don Pottiger sent a letter to council on Monday extending an offer to help quell the problems at the Pagoda.
“This is not just a city, nor a township problem alone,” he wrote. “This is a city AND a township AND a county problem which has the ability to spread out into serious crime, not just ‘nuisance’ issues! Chief (Raymond) Serafin and I, along with the township supervisors, are open for discussion and action.”
There is an intermunicipal agreement with Central Berks that gives it policing powers around the Pagoda.
Central Berks spent nine hours patroling the Pagoda Saturday and Sunday. Officers responded to complaints of car racing, excessive noise and large crowds, Pottiger said. Officers wrote citations and made arrests.
“The police department’s presence this weekend was noticed and appreciated by both city and township residents, but this level of commitment will be difficult to maintain with the limited available staffing the department has available,” Pottiger wrote.
“However, the Central Berks Regional Police Department sees the need to keep the township’s roadways safe, as well as to assist the Reading Police Department, as well as possible assistance from county officials, in clearing this area of these types of activities.”
Councilwoman Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz asked if council would put a hold on voting for the security contract to explore the township’s offer.
“Before we move forward with the security guard (contract) are we going to consider the letter from Don Pottiger in terms of working collectively to address the issues?” she asked. “In working collectively, we could probably share some resources, funding and the costs.”
She said she wanted to take a cautious approach because of potential future financial burdens.
“I want to know if that amount of money is best suited to hire security guards or hire additional police,” she said.
That did not sit well with Councilwomen Donna Reed and Marcia Goodman-Hinnershitz.
“I’m not one who is to spend additional money if it’s not required, but if we don’t do something we’re lucky if we have a building,” Reed said. “That’s how difficult and how unruly and how untenable this position has got.”
Goodman-Hinnershitz said: “I hope you wouldn’t want it on your watch to have these things continue to happen. It’s increasing every week; that it is getting more and more dangerous. I will not be accepting any ‘no’ votes on this. In doing so you’re not going to be protecting the Pagoda.”
Cepeda-Freytiz acknowledged that the problems at the Pagoda weren’t new and have been going on for years.
“It’s been happening under your watch for a very long time,” she said. “I want to be prudent on how we spend money. We have a great opportunity here to collaborate. I’m not against the security guards, I’m just asking if we explored all our options.”
Reading Eagle
