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Mayor: recent Crafton police operations involved county SWAT; mayor urges cautious public communications
Summary
Mayor Perry described a series of searches and arrests tied to a May search for a suspect with multiple warrants, clarified that an arrest on June 7 involved a different person and urged more careful social‑media communications during active investigations.
Crafton Mayor Perry told the borough council on Thursday that recent concentrated police activity in Crafton stemmed from an ongoing search that began May 18 for a person believed connected to an attempted kidnapping incident, and that county police SWAT and mutual aid were called to assist during several search operations.
Perry said the May 18 investigation and subsequent incidents involved canine units, drones and mutual aid searches in neighborhoods including Fountain, Promenade and Woodlawn, and that the June 7 arrest reported by county police was not the originally sought suspect but produced other arrestable warrants.
“What I want to point out again because of some of the questions that we've had, this is not — this arrest is not unrelated to the other search,” Perry said, describing the June 7 incident as occurring at an apartment associated with the original kidnapping victim the borough had been trying to protect. She read an Allegheny County Police Department summary and clarified that county police identified the man taken into custody as 41‑year‑old Richard Graham, who was not the original suspect the Crafton search sought but was found to have outstanding warrants and was charged with escape and resisting arrest.
Perry made an extended appeal for restraint and professionalism in public communications during active incidents, arguing that social‑media posts made during developing operations can jeopardize officer safety, hamper investigations and violate defendants’ due‑process rights.
“Posting information on social media during a developing situation can jeopardize active operations and officer safety,” Perry said. “It can fuel misinformation and speculation. It can undermine ongoing investigations and judicial proceedings, and it can violate privacy, rights or unintentionally identify individuals involved before due process is allowed.”
Perry also told council that once a suspect is taken in by county police the case becomes the county’s case, and the Crafton department will not have additional case information to release.
Why it matters: concentrated law‑enforcement activity can alarm residents; the mayor’s remarks aimed to explain the scope of mutual‑aid involvement, emphasize that arrests announced publicly may not be the result of the borough’s original search, and request that leaders and residents avoid premature or operationally sensitive social‑media posts.
No formal council action followed the update; the mayor said the borough will continue to coordinate with county police and asked residents to rely on official releases rather than social channels for evolving details.
Sources and provenance: the mayor’s remarks and a county police summary were read aloud during the public safety portion of the June 12 council meeting.
