Fox Chase residents heard from 2nd Police District Capt. Matthew Deacon and City Councilman Brian O’Neill at its October meeting.
Deacon was assigned to the 2nd Police District nearly four months ago and previously was the captain of police radio. He encouraged residents to call police or 311 for anything.
“Even if you think it’s minor, we can always listen to what you have to say and it might go into a bigger picture that we’re working on,” he said.
Homicides in the district are down 69 percent from the past year, and robberies involving guns are down 4 percent, Deacon reported. Residential burglaries are down 19 percent and commercial burglaries are down 53 percent in the district. Theft from vehicles, which Deacon said is a “huge” crime in the district, is down 12 percent, and 60 percent of them are from people who left their car doors unlocked.
Deacon also talked about a phone robbery at the Fox Chase Rec Center involving teenagers. Police made one arrest, and detectives are still investigating the others. Everyone involved in the incident lives locally, Deacon said.
Deacon also said a previously reported incident of a man trying to grab a girl near Jardel Recreation Center turned out to be nothing.
O’Neill addressed neighborhood concerns from the residents. He answered questions concerning a house on the 7600 block of Verree Road that meets zoning standards despite appearing different than surrounding homes, and about a vaping shop in the district that he had not heard anything problematic about.
Fox Chase Town Watch and Homeowners Association meets on the second Wednesday of every month at 7976 Oxford Ave. The next meeting is scheduled for Nov. 13 and will include an update from Philadelphia Parks & Recreation about the Lorimer Trail.
