West Kittanning Crime Watchers Urge Caution

Mickey Langham

by Tiffany Chaffee

Due to the recent burglaries in West Kittanning, the West Kittanning Crime Watchers meetings have seen an increase in members.

Mickey Langham, one of the two residents who organize the Crime Watchers meetings, attended the West Kittanning Borough meeting last night to make Council and other residents aware of a problem that has arisen within the past month.

Langham explained that this incident has happened to two people she knows through Crime Watchers, but isn’t sure if other incidents have occurred.

She told Council members what she knew about one of the incidents that occurred.

“On December 21, around 9:30 PM, a man came to the door with an aerosol can,” explained Langham. “At first, the man tried to sell the can to the resident. The resident opened the door to talk with the man, but then the man requested to come inside. The resident then said he wasn’t interested.”

Langham said that the resident thought the man was selling his product door-to-door, but noticed the man entered a white van driven by another person.

West Kittanning Borough Council President Cliff Neal said, “If someone comes to your house, question them to see if they have a soliciting permit and identification. I would advise residents not to open the door if a person comes to your house.”

Langham said that if this happens to anyone in the community, they need to contact the Mayor’s office.

“Word-of-mouth gets around better than anything up here,” commented Langham. She continued by explaining that advertised meetings only yielded approximately eight members, but at the last meeting there were approximately thirty in attendance.

Langham and Chris Held, another organizer of the West Kittanning Crime Watchers, will be contacting members of the group by telephone to set up the next meeting.

If you are interested in joining the West Kittanning Crime Watchers, please contact Mickey Langham at (724) 548-8822.