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Your view: Democrats need to dump Sanders, Warren

Alleged gunman, 4 others charged in football game shooting

<p>This is written in response to the recent reelection of Hazleton Mayor Jeff Cusat.</p><p>In 2016, Mayor Jeff Cusat asked me to serve in his administration as chief of police, and he emphasized that public safety was a top priority.</p><p>When he was a councilman, he worked tirelessly on introducing and implementing various legislation and ideas to reduce crime in Hazleton.</p><p>Since, he took office January 2016, the Hazleton Police Department has taken numerous dangerous criminals, illegal guns and drugs off our streets, while focusing and on quality of life crimes. He has authorized numerous special operations to saturate the city with law enforcement agencies on all levels, which has helped in the reduction of crime.</p><p>I have worked with many mayors throughout my career and Mayor Jeff Cusat ranks at the top, as a leader who takes public safety extremely serious.</p><p>After having a spike in shootings during the summer, Mayor Cusat asked for a plan to address the issue and we implemented an anti-crime detail and focused on the groups responsible for the violence, which proved to be effective with numerous arrests and put and end to the shootings.</p><p>Mayor Cusat underscores that public safety precedes everything, especially economic development. More recently, investors are looking to transform the long-standing old Saint Joseph&#8217;s Hospital property. Moreover, he&#8217;s made resurfacing our streets a priority and installed new streetlights, which has helped with &#8220;Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.&#8221;</p><p>Furthermore, he understands that our youth need recreational activities that will help save them from the scourge of our streets, so he&#8217;s doubled down on our parks in addition to adding cameras for safety, making places to play in Hazleton safer.</p><p>Presently, we are collaborating with the community, faith-based and law enforcement partners to address a &#8220;Group Violence Intervention Strategy,&#8221; which is a proven approach to reducing violence and violent crime. There&#8217;s usually more to crime and disorder that we cannot disclose, but what we can share is that we are committed to ridding Hazleton of the scourge of crime and disorder.</p><p>Mayor Cusat and I speak, meet and strategize everyday on how we can improve public safety and will continue to make a safer Hazleton.</p><p>Mayor Jeff Cusat is committed to continued progress and the resident&#8217;s of Hazleton.</p><p><strong>Jerry Speziale</strong></p><p>Chief of Police, Hazleton</p><style>
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Your view: Cusat dedicated to making Hazleton safer