Reporting Streetlight Outages
By Albert B Kelly
I find myself with conflicting thoughts when it comes to
certain technologies, especially the internet. In its earliest days, it was
presented to us as a great equalizing force, something that would democratize
information, give everyone their own voice, level the playing, and connect
people in wondrous ways. It has done some of these things to be sure, but it’s
also allowed people to spew vile hatred anonymously, opened our lives to
hackers, turned our personal information into a commodity, and rendered our
elections vulnerable, just to name a few.
With a track record like that, I’ll content myself with some
of the smaller and more unheralded benefits that technology and the internet
provide to us and these days, that
mostly means simple things like the ability to report streetlights that don’t
work in your immediate neighborhood. You might not think that streetlights are
such a big deal in the larger scheme of things, but they’re an important part
of public safety in an urban setting – especially as it relates to crime.
It’s not that crime is absent from the more “countrified”
settings, but things happen differently in these settings for different reasons
and in different ways. It may be the prospect of semi-isolation as opposed to
density, the distance between houses versus the street corner and the block,
the wooded tree line along a huge field versus the back alley. Street lights serve
a different function in rural areas than they do in more densely packed
communities. That’s not to say unimportant, just different.
As it relates to crime, the bad guys, and they are
relatively few, don’t want to be seen or exposed and they’re perfectly
comfortable lurking in the dark and lingering in the shadows. To the extent
that this is true, light becomes the first step in making them uncomfortable
and maybe leveling the playing field. The first and most basic way to make a
neighborhood or a street corner unattractive for crime is a well-placed
streetlight. But it doesn’t help much if the light is broken.
Atlantic City Electric’s web link ( https://atlanticcityelectric.streetlightoutages.com/map/default.html
) is an invaluable tool because it allows any citizen, from the comfort and
safety of home, to report the location of a streetlight that’s not working in
their neighborhood, or anywhere else for that matter. In order to file a report,
you will need either a pole number or a street address, but once reported, the
electric company will take it from there.
I have used the link on several occasions and I have found
that Atlantic Electric is very responsive when it comes to fielding these
reports and getting streetlamps up and running. The web link provides an
interactive map that lets you scroll down to the neighborhood level. The map
has icons showing the location of street lights on any given street and when
clicked, it brings up individual pole numbers.
My suggestion, if possible, is to get the number off the
pole and match that to the appropriate icon on the website’s street map as a
way to ensure that you are reporting the correct light. If that is not
possible, then you can confirm by street address. Once you submit a report of a
streetlight outage, you will get an email confirming that Atlantic Electric
received the service request. In my case, they repaired the light and sent an
email informing me that the work was completed 11 days after my initial report,
though they say it generally takes 15 days for repairs to be completed.
The Bridgeton Police Department and Public Works keep a
constant eye out for streetlights that don’t work and these are reported on an
ongoing basis. But to be as effective as possible, this effort to keep our
community properly lit and a deterrent to crime requires the willingness of
residents, in their own neighborhoods, to identify and report darkened
streetlights. If you’re not that comfortable navigating a website, then please
call Bridgeton’s Public Works Department or the Office of Development &
Planning and provide the pole number and the closest street address and
personnel in these offices will file a report.
As we head into winter, there will be more darkness than
light and properly working streetlights are a critical and basic part of public
safety whether it involves simple pedestrian safety, motorist safety, or as a
deterrent to criminal activity.
To report a broken streetlight visit https://atlanticcityelectric.streetlightoutages.com/map/default.html
.