Poll shows overwhelming support for police sharing local crime information

MoreThanTheCurve.com recently reported on a change in how the Plymouth Township Police Department shares information about crimes that take place in the township. Just over a year ago there was a steady stream of information. Then it stopped. A response from the police department stated that there was a review done on how the department shares information and a new policy is being developed.

We asked the public to participate in a survey that asked how much information on crime they want from their local police department. Participants had three options. Do you want to know about everything? Do you just when it involves public safety? Or would you prefer not to know?

425 people participated in the survey. 43% live in the Conshohocken zip code, 25% live in the Plymouth Meeting zip code, and 15% live in the Lafayette Hill zip code. 18% work or visit on a regular basis one of these communities.

The participants were overwhelming (87.1%) in favor of learning about all of the crimes in their communities. 12.5% were fine just knowing when it impacted public safety. Under 1% prefers not to know.

So what to do?

MoreThanTheCurve.com will begin filing right-to-know forms on a daily basis seeking details about recent crimes and we will keep the public up-to-date on what is happening in their communities.

Below are the unedited comments participants of the survey made.

Share your thoughts on how your local department does on notifying the public about crime.
It is unconscionable to not inform the public of these events.
Pretending it doesn’t happen so that residents feel comfortable and safe is an easy way the police and municipal employees get to keep the job that they are failing at, however the crime grows. Unchecked vandalism turns to brazen physical crime in very few steps.
The folks in office want to keep the public fat, dumb and happy to keep the paychecks they receive for doing nothing.
It seems like conshy pd does an ok job of notifying public.
I have a house at the shore, and every month the police share a post with details of arrests (including names of those arrested, reason and the name of officer who made the arrest). The also report number of crimes (car thefts, burglaries, etc) and the road names of where the crimes were committed. I think this type of information is helpful for a community to know.
I feel that local residents and those who shop in Plymouth Township/Conshohocken (I live in Blue Bell and regularly shop at the Metroplex, Home Depot, IKEA, etc…) should be made aware of crime that is occurring. Local news and police organizations should tell people about the crimes that are committed in their area so the public can be more aware of what’s going on and make informed decisions on whom they should entrust to work in and with the local police and government. This information used to be in local papers and shown on the local news, but now the local papers have all but gone away and the local news seems more interested in national news, politics, and events that occur in California and New York. No one wants the suburbs to become like the inner cities where crime is more rampant and criminals are not prosecuted and allowed to continue committing acts of violence.
Almost non existent.
If I visit stores that are victims to theft, especially at the scale that occurred at Ulta, I want to know. I’ll be more guarded when I enter those stores. My money helps to keep them open.
Conshohocken doesn’t publish information like this and they should. By now, the old time saloon would have been shut down if that was the case with everything that happens in association with that establishment. This is probably an out of site out of mind mentality. The harder it is to disseminate information the less likely people will be influenced and change their behaviors. People see this happening in their backyard, they aren’t going to risk going into ULTA in-person to get makeup anymore. They will tell you that they are protecting the identity of someone struggling to get through life or potentially juveniles but there is a financial impact as well as accountability that they are avoiding with this type of move.
I don’t see / hear much at all from the conshy PD. Not sure if that’s good or bad. But I’d like to know of any crimes happening in Conshy / Plymouth. I mostly rely on MTTC and the Conshohocken Facebook group for reports that would alert me to such crimes. But it is the job of the PD to inform the public as well.
not so much
Knowledge is power.
They don’t
There are many crimes reported on local Facebook pages….and WCPD does their best to inform us what is happening
There is very little information shared with the public anymore. Before the internet, you would read the police blotter in the local paper. I would like to see information shared on social media and the township website.
Looks like time to lock and load in Plymouth.
We live in this township and should be informed of all activities good and bad that is happening. No one should be filtering this information.
We should know about trends and incidents that impact our safety.
Nothing
They have a responsibility to let us know about these things, especially if there are patterns emerging.
We need to know when, where and details for our own safety.
Not informative enough
Sharing should not have changed without notice. Now more than ever between carjacking and the smash and grab I would want to be aware how prevalent is happening in my area
Probably not enough
There is no information
I live in Whitemarsh and have no idea but would like to know.
I don’t think we get any notifications about crimes.
Conshy only reports on the most horrible ones like man climbing in child’s window but interested to know everything
The public has a right to know what is happening in our communities.
The public has a right to know about crimes being committed where they live and work. Since there was no change in policy, only a review of current policies, there seems to be no reason why the police department should have stopped reporting crimes to the public. Thank you for looking into the matter. Please continue to keep us updated.
I’m displeased with the recent lack of notifications. Please reinstate I forming the public of local crime.
👎
Randomly hear things on FB. Not good! My daughter was held up at gun point in 2019 while working at the Whitemarsh Pharmacy. The individual stole opioids. She was only a HS Senior. Never caught the guy as far as we have been made aware. The police have never reached out to us after that to follow up. Crime in Roxborough is through the roof. I see it on the Citizen App.
The cops have a Facebook page, let’s share the info with the public.
I find it relevant that crime should be reported and made available. I want to be aware of crime in my neighborhood so I can take additional measures if necessary. I might let me guard down if I think I live in a safe neighborhood but really it’s because I’m not aware of recent crime.
Somewhat inconsistent
I don’t hear much, outside occasional Social posts.
If I were not a Social Media user, I would be in the dark
It should be published on a tab on the township website. Those who want to see the info can see it and if you aren’t interested don’t check the website.
Terrible. A nationwide concerted effort to hide these crimes and the those committing them in the guise of eke was.
Not easily published even in the past.
we used to get weekly updates in the newsletter but that stopped in 2020
If reporting the theft and poating the picture helps catch these guys then it should be reported!
Chief Myrsiades has been amazing and by all accounts, pretty transparent – sounds to me his hands are tied by the horrible district attorney and solicitor…shameful, yet not at all surprising!
I never hear a thing about it
Can’t say for sure; I need to learn how I would find such info.
They don’t
Unknown but I want as much info as possible
There is minimal information in the entire region for anyone who works or lives in the area
Can’t find any information on any daily bases.
THEY NEED TO STOP from hiding the TRUTH of what is going on..
We have a right to know where and who the criminals are in the neighborhoods (and help get them off the streets if possible) It’s not political – it’s about public safety (Which I thought was what the Police are for.)
Ehhh…..
No one needs to be notified of shoplifters. This is ridiculous.
Not reporting crime activity is just hiding the facts from the public to make the the security of the community seem better than it is. We want to know .
They only do when they need help identifying suspects
I really thought that crime was down in our area and that it was only an issue in other communities. I want to know.
Feels like they’re hiding information that I as a resident would really prefer to know. This will start to form an upset/distrust between residents and local police- which is never a good thing.
No sharing anything now
Could be more
Spreading this info can encourage more crime. Likely why the police dept stopped doing it. You give people ideas.
Very poor
It appears the Plymouth Police, by not reporting these crimes, are attempting to cover them up. Gee look at us, we no longer have the crimes that other municipalities have.
Should 100% be reporting this for the public.
We are tax paying citizens and certainly should be notified.
They are not doing a good job we live in this community and have the right to know what’s going on
Sometimes governments need to be reminded that they work for us, not the other way around. Citizens are entitled to know what’s going on.
Just because we have access to more information in the digital age (surveillance cameras, internet), doesn’t mean we need to hear every little thing. Shoplifting is not new. Teenagers used to steal stuff from stores back in the 1970s and 80s too. We just have more footage of it now. Your approach risks increasing the public hysteria about what is really a manageable problem.
Whitemarsh Twp website and email news letter.
It seems we should at least have township website to list crimes in our township. Is this covered under freedom of information rules?
Only recently have the notices increased, which is much appreciated. Awareness can help stop some of these cases
I am a voting democrat, but, as my friends and family, we are law and order people. While recognizing that there are a few bad apples, we support and respect our police. And we want them to do their job. Which is to say, catch and punish those who brazenly steal from the stores we shop in….. We don’t want people to resort to online shopping because they are afraid of being at the department store. Bless your efforts.
Why wouldn’t we want to know about it?
Also let us know when they get caught and what their sentence is once tried. Thanks.
Never hear from them
room for improvements
Seems like they no longer notify the public. Makes me wonder about the motive.
I get most of my info. from www.morethanthecurve.com. The police officers are great in Conshy. We just don’t know about incidents that we should watch out for. I try to look out for my neighbors and the kids in the area.
Our tax dollars, our community, our business to know everything.
I almost always find out about crime on Morethanthecurve and Patch, plus Nextdoor. So police info should be available to these sources. With the decline of newspapers, it’s hard for the public to know what’s going on in their own neighborhood.
They work for the tax payers. There should be no hiding crime. I suspect that county commission is forcing police to down playing crime.
Ok
On a scale of 1-10, I would rate it a 3.
Reducing the amount of transparency is not a good look for Plymouth Township. They can wordsmith it all they want, but that is what it is. They ask people to trust the police, and at the same time stop publishing information that is public and is clearly possible to be shared.
Not enough.
I personally liked the crime information that was published by local law enforcement notifying the public of local crime activity. The specific notifications I am referencing were seen on social media platforms & they encouraged the community to report any information/knowledge they may have in regards to the crime mentioned in the posting.
Apparently, not at all. Our community should be aware of crime in our area so we can be vigilant.
Not transparent.
I work in Plymouth Meeting and want to know about all crime there so I can better protect myself.
Mediocre
I would like to heat more.
They should be open and above board so that we are aware
If the public knows, they are more likely to be identified by neighbors, coworkers. The stores raise prices to compensate for theft – you and I pay for these crimes.
Good
Translucent, not transparent
As best they can but the media needs to help by putting information out in print and on Line.
Non existent. This needs to change.
Withholding of information is deceitful
Conshohocken resident here — I was glad to see the report on Policing finally released. I would like to see greater transparency from our department. More reports on criminal activity, arrests, traffic citations, etc would be great.
Local police departments are a disappointment to say the least. Disengaged, entitled, cocky and look no further than the complete “NON ANSWER” response they provided. I absolutely love that the comment is brazen enough to say that they are ‘committed to the dissemination of public information’ in their vague response which avoids anything close to an actual answer to the question. Good luck getting a straight answer out of them.
Transparency please
They don’t
Whitemarsh PD seems to publish notice of road closures and detours pretty well along with reminders about securing personal property on social media. If there are items of notable urgency, I’d expect alerts to BOLO for individuals that have been identified as suspects for more serious issues along with contact info if spotted. I believe a public and police partnership is the best way to maintain a safe environment for everybody.
I don’t think they tell us aything except if it happens to you they want money for a police report for you to subit to your insurance. They are as bad as the crooks.
They are good from.my experience
Every crime in area should be public information, reimplement prior community crime info sharing policy
Many times in the past, the police withheld information hoping not to tip off the perpetrators. I would prefer to know so I can take appropriate safety measures
Should be readily available to the public so they can help solve the crimes, understand the risks in their community, protect themselves, and hold their elected officials accountable
With articles like those in More Than The Curve
I want Conshy to post all crimes, including photos and video footage whenever available. The public has a right to know what happens in our community, for our own safety. Furthermore, we need to send a clear message that our lovely town, and our police, do not tolerate criminal behavior. We have many residents, businesses and churches that are delighted to help anyone who has fallen on hards times. Let’s keep Conshy a safe place to live, work and visit.
I work in retail you might be surprised at how much stealing happens. Every day. Multiple times a day. Big items. Small items. The human race is faltering when stealing is justified and the norm.
The decision of whether or not to disseminate information about (or anything else) crime in Plymouth Township should not be the business of outside entities like the the MONTCO DA’s Office. It should come directly from the Township to the public!
lazy
Now, more than ever, the resident tax payers of Plymouth Township must receive transparency in all matters resulting in the reporting of
crime. Life as we know it, is now gone. This is our community and it is incumbent for police and it’s residents to work together.
We deserve to know what is going on in our communities! How do we protect ourselves from unknown or unseen if not informed
The public should be aware of all crime especially in areas that are open to the public
Not sure I
Learn most stuff from Ring