Criminal Justice

The Bethlehem Police Department is working to revamp and expand its surveillance capabilities throughout the city, with funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.

'After-hours' establishments could face huge fines — and potential closure — for violating nuisance-abatement ordinances, under a resolution introduced by the city council. Council was critical of the Tuerk administration's response to violence.

The Northampton County district attorney recently asked if the Bethlehem Police Department would dedicate an officer to a part-time role in a human trafficking task force.

An Allentown hookah lounge where a 29-year-old man was fatally stabbed over the weekend is facing eviction, according to court documents.

Isiah Yeager, 23, of Allentown, is facing a criminal homicide charge after police said he twice stabbed 29-year-old Kevin Tarafa, of Bethlehem, at Synergy Hookah Lounge on Allentown's East Side.

Pennsylvania State Police on Monday night said the driver, a 47-year-old man from Allentown, was not struck by gunfire, as state police initially reported. A trooper fired two rounds after a traffic stop Friday night at South Third and West Union streets. The driver was ordered to Lehigh County Jail.

Sunday’s fatal stabbing at Synergy Hookah Lounge on Union Boulevard in Allentown was “the last straw,” the building's owner said, adding he wants the business “gone like cancer.”

A trooper and a suspect both were shot and killed in a shootout in central Pennsylvania, just hours after a 2nd trooper was seriously injured after being shot by the gunman, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

It happened about 5:40 p.m. Friday near South Third and West Union streets in Allentown as city police and state troopers were conducting "high visibility proactive traffic enforcement," state police said. The motorist was taken to a hospital along with another motorist injured when struck by the offending vehicle.

Autopsy reveals cause and manner of death on Tuesday's incident in West Catasauqua Park.

A Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court case is being called the first of its kind, challenging the fate of inmates serving life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Concerned residents held a vigil outside the Lehigh County Jail in Allentown over the weekend with signs and candles to remember an inmate and correctional officer who recently died from COVID-19 and to raise awareness of what they say are dangerous conditions inside.

Lehigh Valley community members say the situation inside the Lehigh County Jail is bleak. Activists say COVID-19 conditions are causing harm to inmates and employees. And they plan to make their voices heard this weekend.

State courts told correctional institutions last year to reduce the number of inmates to help fight the spread of COVID-19 inside.

At a public forum with several Lehigh County Commissioners on Jan. 28, they called their working conditions “life-threatening.”

Lehigh County’s fiscal watchdog is advocating for bail reform.

A Harrisburg woman charged in connection with the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol has been released from custody with restrictions.

A retired Pennsylvania firefighter has been arrested on suspicion of throwing a fire extinguisher that hit three police officers during the siege at the U.S. Capitol.

A yearlong study conducted by the state Department of Aging, found seniors are conned out of ten million dollars a year in Pennsylvania. And as WLVR’s Megan Frank reports, in many cases the scams come from people they know.

Allentown officials are in the process of creating a public safety review board. The goal is to have a body of citizens look into police matters and make reform recommendations.

As Allentown officials discussed what the future of policing may look like in the city Wednesday night, many people gathered outside council chambers - which were closed to the public.

Allentown City Council met last night to discuss a resolution designed to reform police practices.