After many questions from city council and residents at a lengthy public safety meeting last month, Bethlehem police released a report detailing officer-citizen incidents from 2015-19.

The report indicated Bethlehem, with 154 officers, is the eighth largest department in the state, and over the course of five years in responding to 216,489 911 calls and making 13,650 arrests, only 125 complaints were filed; a .057 percent complaint rate. Nine of those complaints were ultimately sustained following investigations.

The vast majority of the complaints regarded either perceived rude or unprofessional behavior by an officer or a dispute because an officer does not comply with a resident’s request. The latter vary, with exampled being “I want my neighbor arrested,” to “I want that car moved.”

The report explains the process of processing and investigating complaints, and sustained allegations do have consequences. Since 2014, 11 officers have resigned, been discharged or were arrested for serious misconduct.

The report reflects a responsible department, it cannot answer the most elusive consideration from the meeting; how accurate is the data when there is no way to know how many residents kept criticism of officers’ actions to themselves?

That question can only be confronted by the people of Bethlehem being as engaged and responsive to city government and policing as possible. This fact finds new prominence as the report’s main author, Police Chief Mark DiLuzio, has suddenly resigned from his four-decade career after re-posting an offensive image on Facebook.

In the report, DiLuzio wrote, “The Bethlehem Police Department holds its officers accountable for their actions on duty and off duty. Being a police officer is a 24-hour-a-day job, and under our departmental standards, we expect our officers to be professional and a role model in their communities.”

The report can be downloaded directly at: https://www.bethlehem-pa.gov/News/Police-News/2019-Report-on-Citizen-Police-Interactions.