Buffalo Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon and the city's police are starting a new walking patrol initiative to get officers out in the community.
While it's starting on a trial run, the goal is to have the walking patrol become a permanent fixture, Scanlon said.
"This initiative is only as strong as the partners we have engaged in it. And to everyone listening, residents, I want you to know this, that this initiative is not about changing uniforms," he said. "It's about changing relationships, because the safer buffalo is a more connected Buffalo, and we're committed to walking that path with you every day, one block at a time."
The new unit features two groups of eight officers and two lieutenants each, in what Buffalo Police First Deputy Commissioner Patrick Overdorf says is a step toward a more democratic policing system with increased resident input.
"This unit is an attempt to get back to a more community-driven approach," he said. "And by that, I mean we want to get out into the community and hear the direct concerns of our residents and our citizens to determine what those unique concerns are."
BPD has been collaborating the past few months with the University at Buffalo and University of Southern California on a study about how to improve policing in the city and which areas are most in need, Overdorf said.
Patrol officers will disperse door hangers and information to residents so they can provide input through online surveys about concerns.
Making community officers a new fixture is a step that has proven to be integral in the past, Buffalo Police Commissioner Alphonso Wright said.
"I used to walk Broadway, and I would go down side streets, and I would meet different people, and as the mayor said, I got to know a lot of people's concerns, and that really helped," he said. "It did. I made long, lasting friendships just by being out here engaging with our community."
Patrols will be 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. in the Broadway-Fillmore neighborhood to start, with hopes to expand throughout the city, Scanlon said.
