Crime in Albany - An Expert Opinion


By DIA, Section News
Posted on Sun Aug 20, 2006 at 05:34:21 AM EST

Last week the Times Union wrote an editorial saying how great it was that people didn't commit crimes when they could see a police car parked on their block. What to say about that? I couldn't muster a response. Luckily an expert in this area has mustered one. Thank you, Terry. Read it.
I must profess myself surprised that the editors would be so uncritically enthusiastic about the salutary effect of keeping a police car parked at the corner of Second and Judson ("The word on the street," editorial, Aug. 16.) Criminals travel lightly. There are plenty of other corners where they have undoubtedly already set up shop.
And the heart of the matter.
What Albany needs is a true community policing strategy -- a working partnership between our public safety agencies and the public they serve. For 20 years now, I have been watching as police agencies throughout the state have taken it upon themselves to shout down and elbow aside citizens and community organizations that are trying to tell them what priorities are most important to the community. They don't listen to us.

The result is that they continue to define the problem so that they are the only solution. With all due respect to the men and women patrolling our streets, I see no problems, most notably those of illegal drugs, being solved.

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Crime in Albany - An Expert Opinion | 7 comments (7 topical, 0 hidden)
SEEMS SILLY (none / 0) (#1)
by nitevision on Sun Aug 20, 2006 at 07:58:21 AM EST
Where do I call to get a police car posted on my corner?  I thought police chief Tuffey was doing a pretty good job to bring discipline back into the Albany police department, now I'm having some doubts.

It is really silly for him to brag about one police car sitting 24/7 on one corner while there was unsolved shooting or stabbing just a block away?  His grammar school approach to stopping crime makes no sense.  That's not fighting crime.  It is pandering for publicity. Terry O'Neil is right when he says the drug dealers just move to a new corner.  Can the city afford to waste resources on Tuffey's public relations stunts?

What Crime? (none / 0) (#2)
by alfrednewman on Sun Aug 20, 2006 at 09:09:43 AM EST
The DA's programs have solved all of those. Seriously, I talked to some officers I know and they basically say that they are tired of the fact that they arrest someone and then the DA doesnt do anything or blows the case.

I would simply love to see what the conviction rates are with Soares.  

Easy to blame the police, isnt it?  But when a gang banger out on bail for several month (his crime included shooting a gun at the people he just robed) kills someone what are we supposed to expect?
"What? Me worry? " "whatmeworry.alfred@gmail.com"
[ Parent ]

Which Officers (none / 0) (#3)
by truthbetold on Mon Aug 21, 2006 at 04:16:06 AM EST
Which ones did you speak with.  The ones who shot and killed the innocent bystander, the one who drove drunk and burned down the building, the officer who broke the 13 year old girls jaw at Livingston, the ones that lied at the DMV hearing on another APD DWI, the officers who pulled the 73 year old man out of the wagon by his ankles, or did you speak with the union president who lied to cover up the illegal investigations into Email accounts or the former liar chief.  Which one Harry?

[ Parent ]
No (none / 0) (#5)
by alfrednewman on Mon Aug 21, 2006 at 06:30:34 AM EST
I talked to the ones who chased down an tackeled a guy who claimed to have a hand gun and threatened to shoot me, the ones who respond to the calls about accidents on my corner, the ones who respond when we saw someone breaking into the house across the street and the ones who joined the force because they wanted to "serve and protect."

Truth  It really sounds like you are hanging with the wrong crowd. Seriously, when the cops your hanging around with start to burn down buildings yu should realize that you should have better friends.

 
"What? Me worry? " "whatmeworry.alfred@gmail.com"
[ Parent ]

Crime (none / 0) (#7)
by truthbetold on Mon Aug 21, 2006 at 04:57:42 PM EST
While I'm confident the DA's crime prevention programs will have a positive impact even I must admit that it'll take more than 20 months for him to clean up the 12 year mess the mayor and his six police chiefs have made.

[ Parent ]
Neighborhood Preservation Crime Prevention Act (none / 0) (#4)
by TerryONeillEsq on Mon Aug 21, 2006 at 06:00:50 AM EST
Bringing in the state police and other resources can be a very good thing if your strategy is well thought out.  People of Schenectady will remember Operation Crackdown in November 1993.  A surprise multi-agency police operation netted over one hundred narcotics arrests and ushered in a period of at least six years of reduced crime throughout the county.  A Gazette reporter at the time described public reaction thus: "They cheered from their porches and shouted out windows. They ran into the street wearing bathrobes and in their stocking feet, shaking the hands of police officers who arrived before dawn to take away suspected drug dealers."  Now that is the way to send criminals a message:  No welcome mat here.

Today, we appear to be in an era of diminished drama and excitement.  Instead of a big, strategically powerful police response to crime and disorder with long-lasting results, we have press conferences at which the Pataki administration hands out Project IMPACT checks.  Instead of the sound of residents of beleaguered neighborhoods clapping and cheering their police, we hear the sound of numbers being crunched and the "ka-ching" of the public cash register.  That wouldn't be such a bad thing were it not for the fact that there is no discernible community input in deciding how those monies will be spent by police and prosecutors.

The last time I can find a reference to the concept of community-based crime prevention as a priority by any governor of this state is in Governor Hugh Carey's 1982 Message to the Legislature.  He promised a statewide program.  He was good to his word and set one up at the Division of Criminal Justice Services.  Unfortunately, before it had even gotten off the ground, his successor dismantled the whole thing, notwithstanding the fact that one of the first bills that Mario Cuomo signed in 1983 -- The Neighborhood Preservation Crime Prevention Act -- was intended to create an infrastructure of nonprofit crime prevention entities throughout the state.  The enduring tragedy of this is that the concept of community-based crime prevention casts police and prosecutors as instruments of community self-determination and empowerment -- key elements of the immune system of vibrant and healthy communities.

Coumo (none / 0) (#6)
by alfrednewman on Mon Aug 21, 2006 at 06:33:02 AM EST
was too busy setting up the Ombudsman program to care about crime.  The Ombudsman program was his campaign in hiding.  
"What? Me worry? " "whatmeworry.alfred@gmail.com"
[ Parent ]
Crime in Albany - An Expert Opinion | 7 comments (7 topical, 0 hidden)
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