It was, Mayor Matt Tuerk acknowledged, difficult to discuss Allentown’s crime rate less than 24 hours after a fatal shooting, but that episode of bloodshed doesn’t change the fact that the city by and large is a safe one, he said.
“It’s a moment of transparency,” Tuerk said Thursday at a news conference outside the Allentown Police Academy, where he and police Chief Charles Roca reviewed crime statistics from the first nine months of the year against the past three years.
“This is not to talk about the successes we’ve had in reducing crime in the city of Allentown,” Tuerk said. “It’s an opportunity for the city and the police department to help our residents understand where we stand — how safe is the city of Allentown.”
Tuerk, a Democrat, is seeking his second term as mayor in a race against Republican candidate Ed Zucal, a former police officer who has made public safety the centerpiece of his campaign. Zucal did not respond to a message for comment.
So far this year, the violent crime index, which includes homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, is slightly lower — 0.35 % — than it was in 2024.
There have been two fewer homicides — four, including Wednesday’s shooting on North Eighth Street that claimed a 24-year-old Berks County man — and an 11% decrease in aggravated assaults. Motor vehicle thefts are down 23% so far.
Other serious crimes are ahead of last year’s pace, however. There have been 43 rapes reported through September compared to 37 last year, and 69 robberies against 52 last year.
“Broadly speaking, Allentown is a safe city,” Tuerk said. “All the crime statistics indicate Allentown is safer than many other cities around the commonwealth.”
Roca, who rose through the ranks in the department and was named chief a little more than four years ago, said police have not only had success against major crimes but have been working with the public to tackle “quality of life” crimes.
He cited an incident Saturday in which a tip from the community allowed the department — with help from Bethlehem and state police — to successfully disperse about 1,000 motorcyclists who had flocked to the city, many of whom were driving recklessly, performing stunts and disrupting traffic.
“The Allentown Police Department hears its community when it talks about loud music, fast-moving vehicles that are not obeying speed limits and running red lights,” he said.
Noise complaints have declined significantly because of stepped-up enforcement of noise ordinances, Roca added, while a successful dirt-bike seizure program has reduced the number of riders running rampant in the streets.
Tuerk acknowledged that the news of Wednesday’s homicide might overshadow what he considers a largely positive record of crime fighting.
“People are subject to a recency bias,” he said. “People sometimes think that the most recent thing that occurred is an indicator of everything that is going on and that’s simply not true here in Allentown.”
Additionally, he and Roca noted, the swift identification and arrest of two suspects in the case reflected well on the department’s officers and investigators and the sophistication of license plate trackers and other technology brought to bear in criminal cases now.
Roca said the department has been succeeding “through collaboration, through engagement, through working with our partners in the school district, the district attorney’s office, the nonprofits that are out there, because we all have a vested interest.”
He offered a blunt summary of his philosophy.
“I’m putting this out to the community for individuals who want to commit crime,” he said. “Don’t. Think again.”
