South Whitehall and Upper Macungie police departments have teamed up to award area residents for promoting good behavior in the community.

South Whitehall Police Chief Glen Dorney emailed The Press about the Good/Positive Behavior Ticket program.

“The Good/Positive Behavior Program is an opportunity for officers to engage our community and thank them for doing good deeds and being a positive influence on our communities,” Dorney said.

He explained when officers encounter members of the community and, if they deem they are doing positive things, the officer can hand them a Positive Behavior Citation which will have a list of participating businesses and their specific discount offers.

“The citation recipient can then take that ticket to one of the participating businesses and use it for that discount,” he stated. “One example is Ice Cream World, which is providing one free item up to $5 with the purchase of another item. Other discounts vary.”

Dorney said the program started with discussions on how to engage the community and prove police officers in the Lehigh Valley are doing the right thing and are true partners in the community.

“We also want to debunk the political narrative that the national media has hijacked by making out all police officers as bad because the actions of a very small number of police officers,” Dorney said.

He said they are still taking discount offers from local businesses, but would like to get the “tickets” printed up by the end of the month and get started on the program as soon as they can.

Dorney explained why his police department is participating.

“The South Whitehall Police Department is very community oriented and has great relationships with our community, Dorney said. “We have gotten a lot of support during these challenging times of national cries to defund the police, and we want to continue to build our community partnerships and relationships to prove that policing in South Whitehall Township is a true partnership between police officers and members of the community.

“I think we have a true mutual respect for each other, and this provides us a way to say thank you for those people who are doing the right thing when no one is watching.

“I want to thank our community for its ongoing support, and I want to let them know we are here for them during these challenging times.

“We will get through this pandemic and national civil unrest together and prove to the country that working together is the answer.”

Upper Macungie Township Interim Chief Michael J. Sitoski also commented on the program.

“The Good Behavior Ticket is a collaborative program between South Whitehall Township and the Upper Macungie Township police departments,” Sitoski said. “It is a program to recognize and reward good behavior or for having a positive impact on their community when observed by an officer.

“It is a great way for police officers to engage their community members in a positive situation.”

Sitoski said the program started as a collaborative effort between the police departments wanting to create positive relationships with their community members.

He said they will start issuing Good Behavior Tickets very soon.

“We like to take opportunities to interact with our communities as much as possible. We felt this was a great venture not only for police/community relations but for businesses, also,” Sitoski said. “With a lot of businesses still operating at a reduced capacity or recovering from the effects of COVID, we thought this would also assist generating traffic into their establishments.”