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New leadership wants police to interact with public

he new city police administration want people of Williamsport to focus more on their officers.

“It’s your police department,” said Damon Hagan, city police chief as of Jan. 14.

His counterpart, Aaron LeVan, assistant chief, has a similar philosophy.

“We want our officers to get out of their cars,” Hagan said. “We want police at crime watches and to listen and share.”

“We’re giving our officers incentive,” Hagan said. “We are also evaluating where they may best serve.”

The command staff plans to promote officers to cover all three shifts.

“We believe the more supervisors on each shift, the better,” Hagan said.

Officers will be in marked cars at areas frequented by crime and intersections where the most accidents occur, he said.

“It does not have to be a speed trap or enforcement,” Hagan said. “Just a presence and reminder for drivers.”

“We want to strive for a cleaner community,” Hagan said, with

officers observing quality of life issues — broken glass, windows, streetlights out, potholes, he said.

“Then, we will get the problems to the right departments for correction,” he said.

Getting more contacts by police in the community through self-initiation and interaction should build relationships and foster peace, Hagan said.

“This is my home city and this is your police department,” he said.

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