42 Search Results for police cars

Feb 1

2020

Police brass overstate availability of patrol cars

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 Buffalo police officers have a lot fewer cars at their disposal to respond to 911 calls than their commissioner would have the public believe, union officials say. Buffalo Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood told the Common Council’s Police Oversight Committee on Jan. 14 that the department’s dilapidated fleet had 134 working patrol cars available to answer calls. The actual number is less than 50, said Mark Goodspeed, vice president of the Police Benevolent Association. Goodspeed performs a regular survey of working patrol cars assigned to the city’s five police districts. On the evening of Jan. 14, the same day Lockwood[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Dec 13

2022

Maybe the feds can fix Buffalo police

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The U.S. Justice Department has investigated more than 80 problem-plagued police departments and correctional facilities over the past 25 years and mandated remedial action to correct issues it encountered in more than half of them. Pittsburgh was the Justice Department’s first target. In 1997, the DOJ and the city signed a “consent decree” — a binding agreement — under which the city adopted numerous police reforms, including an “early warning system” to track officers who exhibited a tendency toward excessive use of force or racial discrimination. A 2012 consent decree between Seattle and the DOJ — prompted by a pattern[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Nov 25

2022

Investigative Post’s groundbreaking police coverage

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Geoff Kelly wrote a couple of blockbuster stories for us over the past week involving allegations of racism in the Buffalo Police Department. One was based on depositions given by retired police commanders in which they acknowledged use of the N-word by officers and a failure to properly train, supervise and discipline cops working on special street units. The other story was based on a federal lawsuit in which officers accuse their captain of making racially derogatory remarks about Black officers and justifying racist attitudes among whites. These revelations were shocking, to be sure. But given Investigative Post’s reporting on[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Nov 15

2022

Disturbing police testimony demands action

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The toxic culture that permeates the Buffalo Police Department is now in the open. The use of the N word by cops. A lack of training to stop police from doing the wrong thing, and lack of accountability when they do. The allegations aren’t being leveled by department critics. Rather, they’ve been described, under oath, by police themselves, including those in supervisory positions. Shocking? Yes. Surprising? No. Investigative Post has been reporting on problems within the department since 2016. A lack of proper training. A failure to investigative citizen complaints against officers. The unconstitutional practices of special street crime units.[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Apr 28

2022

Video: Police shoot car to car during wild chase

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Earlier this week, The Challenger — Buffalo’s leading African-American newspaper — published an article describing the March 29 police chase that started as a routine traffic stop at the foot of West Ferry and ended on the city’s East Side, with police surrounding and firing into the vehicle driven by 28-year-old Kente Bell. It was a wild chase, according to the account Erie County District Attorney John Flynn provided the media, lasting half an hour and stretching the breadth of the city, with shots fired by both Bell and police. Three officers and Bell were wounded by gunfire.  “Nine police[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Dec 3

2020

City Hall spending on police has skyrocketed

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The Buffalo Police Department’s budget has grown at three times the pace of other city services since Mayor Byron Brown took office in 2006, an increase fueled largely by the cost of health insurance and pension payments for current and retired cops. The city spends 54 percent more on police than it did 15 years ago. Meanwhile, spending across all other city departments has increased just 17 percent. That’s less than two-thirds the rate of inflation. In inflation-adjusted dollars, the city’s spending on police has effectively defunded other city services.  The city spends less today than it used to on[...]

Posted 3 years ago

Jul 20

2020

Police misconduct costing Buffalo millions

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 A cop shooting and paralyzing a teenage driver.  A police tow truck driver running a red light and slamming into a passenger car. A cell block attendant ramming a handcuffed detainee’s face into a door at Central Booking. The incidents all led to lawsuits against the City of Buffalo and its police department, and subsequently settlement agreements. Since 2015, a total of 16 settlements have cost taxpayers $11.9 million. Most involve excessive use of force or negligent driving. Those figures trouble Samuel Davis, a local defense attorney.  “I find it alarming that that much money has been paid out,”[...]

Posted 4 years ago

Jun 24

2020

Police arrest Niagara Square protesters

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Buffalo Police today arrested 13 protesters who had been occupying Niagara Square for a week and a half.  The order to clear the square came directly from Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood, police spokesman Captain Jeff Rinaldo told Investigative Post. The arrests were made about 1 a.m. Wednesday, just hours before the department put in place a new policy to issue appearance tickets for low-level offenses rather than taking people into custody.  Juan Santos, a protester who was arrested, spoke with Investigative Post, and said they were detained and held in Central Booking for nearly five hours before being issued appearance[...]

Posted 4 years ago