It takes 15 seconds:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/prevent_urban_violence_in_Albany/
Please note that it does not matter whether you are a resident of Albany, or New York State. A signature is a signature, and is very helpful to the cause.
It will be critical that we present a large number of signatures to Albany's Common Council (the body of elected representatives from each neighborhood, equivalent to a City Council). If you object to any specifics in the petition, please contact me at sf317928@albany.edu so that I can consider your objection and potentially alter the specifics that we are advocating for.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Join the Facebook Event
Even if you are unsure or unable to attend the Common Council meeting Dec 7th, please support this effort by 'attending' the facebook event, and inviting your friends to do the same:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=189569075837#wall_posts
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=189569075837#wall_posts
Hiring a Police Chief Who is Dedicated to Community Policing
The Albany Police Department has been ineffective at combating this city's gun violence crisis , where over a half-dozen homicides occurring in Albany every year. In the summer of 2008, urban violence stole the life of a 10 year old girl in the West Hill neighborhood four blocks from Downtown Campus/Draper Hall. Last fall, this city's gun violence leaked into the middle class neighborhood of Pine Hills, resulting in the murder of SUNY Albany student Richard Bailey.
Why is this violence occurring??? One answer is that the City’s last Police Chief, James Tuffey, pulled the great majority of community police officers (beat cops who consistently patrol neighborhoods by foot and get to know the community) out of their neighborhoods. Think about it: when’s the last time a friendly officer on the street greeted you? In effect, all relationships between residents and police officers have been sacrificed for a policing strategy of patrol car technology and ability for several cars to quickly pounce to the scene once a crime has occurred.
Chief Tuffey was forced to resign this September after a public controversy concerning his comment that the lives of White citizens and murder victims in Albany are valued more than the lives of Blacks. ( http://archives.timesunion.com/mweb/wmsql.wm.request?oneimage&imageid=8603557 ) The city has yet to hire a new Police Chief.
Demanding that the next Chief is without bias and committed to preventing violence is not all we’re asking for. This city needs Community Policing policies that foster trust and partnership between communities and their police. Hard working noble citizens in Albany do not feel respected or trust this city’s police, especially in economically oppressed communities of color. Students do not feel safe off campus. All of this can, and must, change with the hiring a Police Chief who is deeply committed to Community Policing. Now is our chance to ensure that the next Chief is exactly that. If we, as students, fail to mobilize a strong voice for Community Policing, the status quo will likely prevail, and the city will continue to be dangerous for inner city residents as well as college students.
Why is this violence occurring??? One answer is that the City’s last Police Chief, James Tuffey, pulled the great majority of community police officers (beat cops who consistently patrol neighborhoods by foot and get to know the community) out of their neighborhoods. Think about it: when’s the last time a friendly officer on the street greeted you? In effect, all relationships between residents and police officers have been sacrificed for a policing strategy of patrol car technology and ability for several cars to quickly pounce to the scene once a crime has occurred.
Chief Tuffey was forced to resign this September after a public controversy concerning his comment that the lives of White citizens and murder victims in Albany are valued more than the lives of Blacks. ( http://archives.timesunion.com/mweb/wmsql.wm.request?oneimage&imageid=8603557 ) The city has yet to hire a new Police Chief.
Demanding that the next Chief is without bias and committed to preventing violence is not all we’re asking for. This city needs Community Policing policies that foster trust and partnership between communities and their police. Hard working noble citizens in Albany do not feel respected or trust this city’s police, especially in economically oppressed communities of color. Students do not feel safe off campus. All of this can, and must, change with the hiring a Police Chief who is deeply committed to Community Policing. Now is our chance to ensure that the next Chief is exactly that. If we, as students, fail to mobilize a strong voice for Community Policing, the status quo will likely prevail, and the city will continue to be dangerous for inner city residents as well as college students.
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Our Rationale for Community Policing
This City of Albany, NY and its police force need a change. Our next Police Chief must be an individual who throughout his/her career has demonstrated the belief that the life of each citizen is as valuable as any other, regardless of race or economic status.
Furthermore, we feel that the Police Department committed a disservice to Albany’s inner city communities by pulling community police officers—beat cops—out of their neighborhoods, and devaluing cooperative partnerships that had been established by effective community police officers. Without the same officers consistently patrolling delegated neighborhoods, getting out of their cars, and forming relationships with community members, citizens are less safe and suffer from an anxiety and fear for being vulnerable to violent crime. We reject the hierarchy and impersonal relationships that result from a policing strategy based largely upon statistics and reactive policing. We hereby demand that the next Police Chief utilize the proactive model of community policing as a means for creating a safer environment for Albany’s economically oppressed communities. If the next Police Chief is truly committed to decreasing violent crime in Albany, it is critical that he implement the following policies that will collectively achieve remarkable gains in revitalizing trust and partnership between communities and their police officers:
1) Beat cops be assigned throughout all residential neighborhoods, especially in Albany’s most impoverished communities with the highest rates of shootings and violent crime. These neighborhood officers should be stationed in one area for several years, identifiable with their names and locality clearly labeled on their uniform, and expected to do the great majority of their daily policing out of their cars and on the street. Shadowing effective community police officers would be an essential component to training rookie police officers.
2) To legitimately promote partnership between beat cops and community members, it will be essential to retrain these officers in community policing. We advocate for forums to take place between community members and their police officers that promote dialogue and mutual respect. These could utilize the Study Circles Resource Center’s Protecting Communities, Serving the Public curriculum or implement something similar. This would be the start of establishing more permanent public input forums within neighborhoods, by in part supporting the implementation of Assemblywoman Destito’s Bill that would establish Community Justice Councils .
3) An Albany Police Department (APD) pay structure compensating police officers for excellence in community policing and peace-keeping as their primary responsibility and policing model.
4) An APD plan with policies, procedures and performance targets to aggressively recruit youth in Albany’s inner city communities to become police officers in the City of Albany.
Not only must our crime be policed more effectively, in thinking long term the next Police Chief must implement and support policies that prevent crime. This would include:
1) Actively supporting Operation SNUG/Ceasefire, a community driven initiative working to decrease violence. This program has been implemented in violence-plagued urban communities across the country.
2) Further strengthening Albany’s new Reentry Task Force, as well as supporting the creation of a Reentry Task Force for Juvenile Offenders.
3) Reopening the book on supporting Community Crime Prevention policies that would work holistically to revitalize low income neighborhoods and therefore prevent crime, much as the moribund Neighborhood Preservation Crime Prevention Act of 1983 intended .
Furthermore, we feel that the Police Department committed a disservice to Albany’s inner city communities by pulling community police officers—beat cops—out of their neighborhoods, and devaluing cooperative partnerships that had been established by effective community police officers. Without the same officers consistently patrolling delegated neighborhoods, getting out of their cars, and forming relationships with community members, citizens are less safe and suffer from an anxiety and fear for being vulnerable to violent crime. We reject the hierarchy and impersonal relationships that result from a policing strategy based largely upon statistics and reactive policing. We hereby demand that the next Police Chief utilize the proactive model of community policing as a means for creating a safer environment for Albany’s economically oppressed communities. If the next Police Chief is truly committed to decreasing violent crime in Albany, it is critical that he implement the following policies that will collectively achieve remarkable gains in revitalizing trust and partnership between communities and their police officers:
1) Beat cops be assigned throughout all residential neighborhoods, especially in Albany’s most impoverished communities with the highest rates of shootings and violent crime. These neighborhood officers should be stationed in one area for several years, identifiable with their names and locality clearly labeled on their uniform, and expected to do the great majority of their daily policing out of their cars and on the street. Shadowing effective community police officers would be an essential component to training rookie police officers.
2) To legitimately promote partnership between beat cops and community members, it will be essential to retrain these officers in community policing. We advocate for forums to take place between community members and their police officers that promote dialogue and mutual respect. These could utilize the Study Circles Resource Center’s Protecting Communities, Serving the Public curriculum or implement something similar. This would be the start of establishing more permanent public input forums within neighborhoods, by in part supporting the implementation of Assemblywoman Destito’s Bill that would establish Community Justice Councils .
3) An Albany Police Department (APD) pay structure compensating police officers for excellence in community policing and peace-keeping as their primary responsibility and policing model.
4) An APD plan with policies, procedures and performance targets to aggressively recruit youth in Albany’s inner city communities to become police officers in the City of Albany.
Not only must our crime be policed more effectively, in thinking long term the next Police Chief must implement and support policies that prevent crime. This would include:
1) Actively supporting Operation SNUG/Ceasefire, a community driven initiative working to decrease violence. This program has been implemented in violence-plagued urban communities across the country.
2) Further strengthening Albany’s new Reentry Task Force, as well as supporting the creation of a Reentry Task Force for Juvenile Offenders.
3) Reopening the book on supporting Community Crime Prevention policies that would work holistically to revitalize low income neighborhoods and therefore prevent crime, much as the moribund Neighborhood Preservation Crime Prevention Act of 1983 intended .
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