By Betsy Brewer Brantner
Contributing Writer

The recent shooting at Lincoln University’s Homecoming celebration has shaken the local community. 

Although the victims and those directly impacted by the tragedy are in our thoughts and prayers, we know that is little comfort to those caught up in this trauma—and trauma doesn’t go away overnight.

With the shooting at Lincoln University still on everyone’s mind, there was a discussion about security at a recent Oxford Borough Council meeting. 

Like many towns around the nation, security is becoming more important every day. The borough’s residents are protected by a 24/7 police department, which does allow the police officers to pick up on issues that impact departments around the state and the country.

The Borough of Oxford frequently holds events sponsored by Oxford Mainstreet, Inc., (OMI) or the Chamber of Commerce. One of those events, the Oxford Halloween Parade, hosted by the Chamber, brings thousands of people into the Borough of Oxford for a fun celebration. Normally, the Oxford Police Department and the Oxford Public Works Department work in tandem to prepare for such events, and it takes a lot of attention to detail to orchestrate an event of this magnitude.

Oxford Police Department Sgt. Chris Coverly recently talked about what is involved in the preparation for an event, including road closures and security.

“I’m usually bringing up staffing for events months in advance,” Coverly said. “Event planners count on us to provide security, and I take that very seriously. The Halloween Parade or the annual car show will bring thousands of people into the town and we have to think of every possible ‘what if.’” 

Staffing doesn’t just include the Oxford Police Department. In the past, it has included the Chester County Sheriff’’s Department, the State Police, the Oxford Area School District Police,  police from other municipalities, and the Emergency Services Coordinator to name a few. All of these entities have worked hard to be able to communicate with all agencies in the county in the event of an emergency.

When Coverly took over the responsibility of preparing an action plan in 2021, he became aware of just how many groups are involved in the preparation of an action plan.

“I’ve been sounding the alarm for years how important security is,” Coverly explained. “It not only involves police, fire and ambulance companies, an Emergency Management Coordinator, it involves hospitals, mapping traffic and so much more.”

He added, “We are responsible of traffic and crowd control at each event. We need to know how many staff we need for pedestrian parking, road closures, and making a path for emergency vehicles. We want these events to be safe. Once I know who signs up for these events, we can get an idea of where they should be positioned. Road closures are one thing. We usually work with PennDOT months ahead of the event. However, directing traffic to a town that has roads closed for an event presents a problem in itself. Where can everyone park? Once people are parked, and that is no small effort, you have to know how they can exit if they have to leave early and how they will exit safely once the event is over.”

Coverly continued, “Mapping is necessary to see the overall picture and to determine where emergency vehicles can go through quickly if needed. We also have to prepare for the staging of the event. Something as big as the Halloween Parade has to have enough room to handle floats, and walkers, and to keep them safe before and after the parade. Then the attention goes to those judging the parade and watching the parade. And of course when the parade is over, everyone has to get back into those parked cars and carefully find their way out of town.”

Coverly prepares his action plan based on events of the past. But it goes without saying that while bystanders are watching the parade, the security, in this case the Oxford Police, are watching bystanders. 

“I will generate an emergency action plan for our people, county and State Police, Union Fire Company and the 911 center. If they do an all-call, we need to know where the command center and media staging will be. A lot of scenarios go through my mind when I’m preparing,” Coverly said. “We don’t want to over-police, and since I became sergeant, we have streamlined those figures. But we need to remember, it’s not just the event we are protecting. We have to have enough officers to protect and serve the whole community.”

Attending the council meeting were Leslie Sleesman, the interim executive director for OMI and Dennis McCartney, the President of the Board of Director for the Oxford Chamber. The issue of security for these two entities, or any entity putting on an event, is becoming a costly concern at this point. Most entities putting on events do so in part for the community’s entertainment, but the events are also a source of revenue for the entities. It has become an ever-increasing monetary concern for the Borough’s Police Department and Public Works Department, since both are so intricately involved. In recent years the borough has had to ask for funding to pay for the use of these departments. Now, according to a discussion by council, other security agencies may be necessary for some of the events.

The borough’s action plan passes through a lot of hands before it is finalized. But security is the priority. Borough solicitor Stacey Fuller will continue to look into this and the security discussion will continue with Borough Council.

In other business, Oxford Police Chief Sam Iacono told council that the department is now fully staffed.

Oxford Borough Council also approved the following:

• Historical Architectural Review Board (HARB) Certificate of Appropriateness for 29 S. Fourth Street;
• Historical Architectural Review Board (HARB) Certificate of Appropriateness for 29 W. Locust Street;
• Historical Architectural Review Board (HARB) Certificate of Appropriateness for 41 S. Third Street;
• Historical Architectural Review Board (HARB) Certificate of Appropriateness for 72-74 N. Fourth Street.