A letter from Chief Anton J. Toryak – Penn Estates Public Safety/EMS

With the holiday season upon us, that means another year has come and gone. I hope everyone is enjoying this time with family and friends and making memories that will last a lifetime. For those of you who have friends and family visiting here in PEPOA, remember the proper entrance procedure.

All guests must make entry through the front gate off Hallet Road. Gate cards cannot be passed to a guest to gain unauthorized entry into PEPOA. No matter how innocent this seems, it weakens the integrity of the system the PEPOA Public Safety Department has put in place to keep the membership safe. Any violations will result in gate card deactivation along with numerous citations. So, remember to plan ahead. Call guests in with plenty of time before they arrive and ensure they know which gate to enter.

To deter unauthorized entry, an anti-passback feature has been activated at all card readers. Once a gate card is swiped, it will be deactivated for a predetermined amount of time. In essence, this will render the card in a temporarily deactivated state. Once the predetermined amount of time has passed, the card will function as normal.

Public Safety Officers will still issue citations for passback if it has been determined a violation has occurred, whether access has been granted or the anti-passback feature prevents entry. Also, if you pull up to the card reader and repeatedly wave your card at the reader, it may “trick” the system into thinking multiple swipes have occurred. This will lead you to believe that your gate card has been deactivated when it is the ani-passback feature. I encourage you all to wait till the gate fully closes from the vehicle in front of you and then “tap” your gate card to the reader. Refrain from rapid waving motions.

I wish you all a safe and joyous holiday season.

Anton J. Toryak
Chief
Penn Estates Public Safety/EMS