By Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo, NY – Buffalo's first African-American police commissioner was sworn in Tuesday by the Common Council. And H. McCarthy Gipson says he's wasting no time cleaning up the culture of the city - and the police department.
Gipson was appointed by Mayor Byron Brown. But Gipson was unanimously confirmed Tuesday by the Common Council.
The 35-year law enforcement veteran said he takes that confidence in him very seriously. He said he will work hard - beginning today - to earn that trust.
"We have a lot of really fine officers who put forth their best efforts in trying to address the issues of crime that plague our city. And we are just going to try to reach out to the citizens, communicate a little more effectively about the directions that we're taking, and to try to seek more voluntary compliance," said Gipson.
He said enforcing quality of life laws will be a top priority, including noise ordinances, curfews - and yes, parking tickets.
But Common Council President David Franczyk said the excessive parking tickets issues recently is not the way to build public relations with citizens or city officials.
"There should be some prudence and judgement. You can't have the tail wagging the dog - the city is in charge, the people are in charge, the Commissioner, the Mayor," said Franczyk. "The fact of the matter is that to go off in a rogue type fashion like this is petty and it's unfortunate."
But Commissioner Gipson downplayed the idea that police are acting out of anger over frozen wages.
"I think there may be some morale issues. I think the change in administration with our new mayor, and the change in administration that's coming to the Buffalo Police Department, we've seen some positive signs our of a lot of the officers," said Gipson.
Regardless, Gipson said the laws will now be strictly enforced, just as they are in surrounding communities. And Gipson says he'll do it with the officers he has.
"None of our efforts, whether it's to enforce the curfew, whether it's to address the youth gangs are designed with a request for additional manpower in mind," said Gipson. "We are stuck with the manpower we have. We're going to work on our efforts utilizing the resources we have available."
Gipson said he is crafting a six-month strategic plan that he said will lay out how best to repair the culture of the department and gain citizen trust.