A masked man who stood in front of Hazleton City Hall on Monday morning isn't a criminal — he's trying to discourage crime.

As cars passed, he held a sign saying; "Enough is enough. We want our streets back. We are watching."

He removed his Guy Fawkes mask to identify himself as Bill Boran and asked people to take off their blinders to the crime around them.

"There's bad things happening in this city that you don't see, that I don't see," Boran said.

He has lived all his 58 years in Hazleton and doesn't like the direction that the city is taking.

"We have armed robberies, stabbings, the drugs, the gangs, home invasions," said Boran, mentioning that an 18-year-old man was stabbed on Wyoming and Maple streets on Sunday at 9:40 p.m.

Police said Ernesto Luis Quinones was flown to Lehigh Valley Hospital in Allentown after being attacked.

Boran said Hazleton needs more police. He hopes agents from the state Atttorney General's Office return to Hazleton as they did last fall when starting a drug investigation that led to arrests this spring.

"Our police in Hazleton are undermanned and overwhelmed. I'd like to see them be able to overwhelm the problem," Boran said.

And the police need more information from residents.

"Carry your phone. Call the cops," he said. "Don't be afraid of anything."

kjackson@standardspeaker.com