Tag: Crime

Nov 13

2019

DA moving, judges lagging on bail reform

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 Erie County is ahead of the curve on bail reform. Changes in the law that take effect January 1 prohibit the imposition of cash bail on defendants charged with misdemeanors and non-violent crimes. But in Erie County, as of November 1, assistant district attorneys cannot ask for bail on those offenses without prior approval from a supervisor. “Come December first, only I can approve it,” said John Flynn, the Erie County District Attorney. “That’s how we’re phasing it in. Then come January, none of us can ask because the judges cannot do it.” He added: “Individuals who are charged[...]

Posted 4 years ago

May 23

2017

Heaney discusses homicides on WGRZ

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Jim Heaney tells Kelly Dudzik of WGRZ that Buffalo police have a poor track record of clearing homicides – generally solving a quarter to a third of murders in recent years. Departments nationally clear about 60 percent of homicides. Heaney’s comments were made in the context of plans announced by Common Council President Darius Pridgen to launch a newsletter that will feature murder victims. Pridgen, pastor of True Bethel Baptist Church, hopes the newsletter and a digital companion will help in some way to solve murders. Heaney and Steve Brown of WGRZ did stories in March of this year and[...]

Posted 7 years ago

Apr 18

2016

iPost, WGRZ win prestigious Murrow award

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A team project by Investigative Post and WGRZ broadcast last year about Buffalo’s failure to solve most of its murder cases has won the Edward R. Murrow Award for investigative reporting. The project was selected as the best investigative work broadcast in small television markets in the New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey region by the Radio-Television Digital News Association. The stories were reported by Jim Heaney, Investigative Post’s editor, and Steve Brown, investigative reporter with WGRZ. Video was shot and edited by Andy DeSantis and Bob Mancuso. Their work is under consideration for the Murrow national award, which will be announced in June. The[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Mar 14

2016

Buffalo: Real State of the City

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Buffalo is doing better, but is it doing as well as the politicians and much of the local press would have us believe? The answer, in a word, is “no.” That was the bottom line to my address Feb. 24 at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. Progress has been overstated. There’s a lot of racial inequality. We’re a high-crime city where few criminals get caught. And Buffalo is a ward of the state. Charlotte Keith and I dug deep into the data to provide a factual, statistical framework on which I based my conclusions. Here they are, in a nutshell:[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Jan 14

2016

Buffalo’s ailing inner-city

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Buffalo is not immune to the social problems that have produced conflict in Ferguson, Baltimore and other urban centers, two prominent African American leaders said Wednesday at a luncheon hosted by Investigative Post. “Can there be a Ferguson or a Baltimore in Buffalo? Absolutely,” said Rev. Darius Pridgen, pastor of True Bethel Baptist Church and president of the Buffalo Common Council. Dr. Henry L. Taylor, a professor and founding director of the Center for Urban Studies at the University at Buffalo, called for the creation of a development fund for the East Side whose participants would include government, business, nonprofits[...]

Posted 8 years ago

Mar 10

2015

Council’s slow motion response to murder crisis

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Steve Brown and I reported five weeks ago that Buffalo has a serious murder problem. Our city’s homicide rate is among the highest in the nation — and the solve rate is among the worst. Over the past five years, police have cleared only 39 percent of homicides, and that rate has been steadily dropping, to just 23 percent last year. Gang violence and a resulting lack of cooperation from witnesses, and the community at large, partly explain the low clearance rate. But shortcomings in the city’s homicide squad also come into play. The problems are pronounced enough that Erie[...]

Posted 9 years ago

Feb 8

2015

Rochester’s success at solving murders

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Unlike in Buffalo, police down the Thruway in Rochester are solving most murders committed in their city, Steve Brown of WGRZ reports. His story concludes a three-part series, the first two of which were done in collaboration with Investigative Post. The first two installments can be found here and here.

Posted 9 years ago

Feb 5

2015

Getting away with murder in Buffalo

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A lot of people are dying in the streets of Buffalo. The body count last year was 62. To put that number in perspective, consider that only five murders were committed in the balance of Erie County last year. Buffalo’s murder rate is high, not just in comparison with the suburbs, but with comparably sized cities with a population between 250,000 and 500,000. Buffalo recorded an average of 18.7 murders per 100,000 residents vs. 11.3 for all mid-sized cities for the five years ending in 2013. That’s the bad news. And it gets worse. Most killers get away with murder[...]

Posted 9 years ago
Investigative Post

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