Candidate for attorney general puts forth safe-community plan

Drug trafficking, children and the elderly will get special attention.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- Tom Corbett said he will launch an Action Plan for Safe Communities if he is elected Pennsylvania's attorney general Nov. 2.
Corbett, a Republican who served as the state's appointed attorney general to fill an unexpired term in the mid-1990s, unveiled his plan in a visit to the Hermitage municipal building Monday.
It calls for a realignment of the resources of the office and would likely result in a request for additional state funding from the Legislature, he said.
Corbett, a career prosecutor, said his plan calls for an increased commitment to battling illegal drugs as his No. 1 priority.
He reorganized the Pennsylvania Drug Task Forces during his earlier tenure as attorney general and will seek additional state money to add officers to those task forces if elected.
Internet predators
Protecting children from predators, particularly on the Internet, is also part of his plan, and he intends to strengthen the Attorney General's Child Sexual Exploitation Task Force, which is another enforcement arm he created while serving as attorney general.
Its goal is to seek out and capture child predators before they strike, and the effort will be strengthened by creating a statewide "Child Predator Unit," Corbett said.
He also plans to initiate "Project BRAVE," Be Ready to Avoid Victimization and Exploitation, designed to educate Pennsylvanians with tools needed to keep children safe.
Further, Corbett intends to hold a statewide "Crimes Against Children Summit" seeking to develop a curriculum to provide personal safety skills to children and their parents to help them recognize and deal with threatening situations.
That curriculum will be distributed to schools, community centers, churches and other venues.
Elderly abuse
Senior citizens will also get special attention with his proposed Elder Abuse Unit, which would investigate and prosecute all forms of abuse of the elderly, including financial exploitation, physical abuse and sexual assault.
He said he doesn't know yet if implementing the Action Plan for Safe Communities will require additional staff or just a realignment of resources. A transition team will better be able to make that determination after the election, he said, adding that it may only be a matter of resetting priorities.