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Bringing Community Responders to Erie County
Colleen Kristich — Oct 29, 2024
Community responders are first responders who respond to nonviolent, noncriminal calls without police. Over 100 American cities now use community responder teams to address low-level health and social needs, which saves police and ambulance time and allows them to respond faster to higher-priority calls.
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Community Responder Teams Brochure
Colleen Kristich — Apr 19, 2023
Community responders are first responders, just like police, fire, and EMS. They respond independently to low-risk 911 calls related to health and social needs.
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Community Responder Teams Fact Sheet
Colleen Kristich — Apr 19, 2023
Surprisingly, most calls to 911 are not about emergencies or crimes. In 2019, over 95% of 911 calls handled by the Erie County Sheriff were noncriminal calls for service (e.g., accidents, alarms, nonviolent disputes, etc.). Violent crimes—including murder, forcible rape, and arson—made up just 1.3% of calls.
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The City of Buffalo’s Untapped Power to Discipline Police Officers
Miles Gresham — Oct 29, 2021
Drawing on decisions from the New York State Court of Appeals, this brief argues that the City of Buffalo has an untapped power to discipline police officers, outside of the provisions in its contract with the police union. Both court decisions and Buffalo’s legislative history grant it this authority.
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The MRTA: What You Need to Know About Marijuana Legalization in New York
Miles Gresham — May 31, 2021
In March 2021, New York State adopted the Marijuana Regulation and Taxation Act (MRTA), a historic law that legalizes the use of recreational marijuana. In doing so, the MRTA centers racial and economic justice to repair the harms caused by decades of biased marijuana enforcement. It will bring revenue from marijuana legalization to communities most impacted by criminalization. It also removes or expunges past marijuana convictions.
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Building a Safer Buffalo: Invest in Communities, Divest from Police
Colleen Kristich — May 6, 2021
Across the country, advocates are calling to cut police budgets in response to widespread misconduct made visible by videos of police killing unarmed civilians, disproportionately Black Americans, Indigenous people and people of color. Many attempts at police reform have failed to meaningfully change the harmful culture and practices of policing, and even with outsized public investment in law enforcement, public safety problems persist. Concerned residents and advocates call for reallocating …
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The Cost of Incarceration in NYS: Erie County
Vera Institute of Justice — Apr 13, 2021
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Poor Implementation Puts Health at Risk: An Evaluation of the New York Release Program for People Incarcerated on Charges of Technical Parole Violations during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Stephen Hart — Jan 18, 2021
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Community Gardens as Urban Greening: Cutting Crime and Improving Wellbeing
Nicole Capozziello — Jan 7, 2021
This policy brief shares vacant land statistics in Buffalo, highlights Philadelphia as a vacant property transformation case study, and makes the case for community gardens as the ideal form of urban greening for Buffalo.
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Stop Receipts in Buffalo: Pursuit of Racial Justice and Accountability
Joshua Swiatek — Jan 6, 2021
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Why Buffalo Needs Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD): Reducing Arrests and Providing Alternatives to Incarceration
Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, Tanvier Peart — Dec 1, 2020
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Save Money, Save Lives: An Analysis of the Fiscal Impact of the HALT Solitary Confinement Act
Partnership for the Public Good — Nov 29, 2020
In New York State, a majority of state lawmakers support passage of the Humane Alternatives to Long-Term (HALT) Solitary Confinement Act (S.1623/A.2500), to restrict the use of solitary confinement in prisons and jails in line with international human rights standards. Several local legislatures have endorsed the bill, including the Erie County Legislature.
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Shrinking Jails, Rising Costs: Erie County's Wasteful Jail Budget
Colleen Kristich — Nov 21, 2020
This policy brief presents data on the makeup of the Erie County jail population, which has reduced by 48% since 2017. It examines the capacity of both jails and determines that one jail could be closed, with savings redirected to other community-based harm reduction services. The brief compares Erie County spending on jails with spending on mental and public health, and makes recommendations for County leaders to further reduce the jail population, capture the savings of decarceration, and …
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Footage Release Policies for the Buffalo Police Department
Sarah Wooton — Nov 16, 2020
To be effective accountability tools, police body cameras must be accompanied by good policies governing their usage and giving the public access to footage. Otherwise, exemptions in state freedom of information laws can be used to limit the disclosure of critical evidence of misconduct.
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Why Buffalo Needs Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD): Reducing Arrests and Providing Alternatives to Incarceration
Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, Tanvier Peart — Jun 25, 2020
Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) is a pre-arrest diversion program that improves public safety and public health through partnership between police and community service providers.
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Eliminate 2018 Traffic Fees and Address Unequal Traffic Enforcement in Buffalo
Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, George Nicholas, Jalonda Hill — Jun 18, 2020
The Buffalo Common Council should repeal its July 2018 amendment to Chapter 175 of the Cityof Buffalo Code that added 13 new fees related to traffic violations. The thirteen fees:• Are dramatically higher than those charged by other cities in New York;• Do not promote public safety and are not reliable revenue sources;• Exacerbate Buffalo’s already severe problems with poverty, racial disparity, andcommunity-police relations.
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Cruelty and Cost: Money Bail in Buffalo
Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, Colleen Kristich — Apr 26, 2018
This policy report was drafted by Andrea Ó Súilleabháin, Deputy Director at PPG, and Colleen Kristich, Master of Social Work Candidate at the University at Buffalo.It presents new data on bail in Buffalo, including frequency of money bail, average amounts by level and type of offense, and racial disparities. This dataset is based on PPG's observation of 240 arraignment hearings from November 2017 to February 2018.The report includes several stories from Buffalo City Court, …
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Restorative Practices in Buffalo: Building and Rebuilding Community
Kathryn Franco — Apr 21, 2018
Restorative practices/restorative justice (RP or RJ) is an alternative approach to our current punitive system of addressing conflict and crime. It is an age-old practice with origins in many indigenous cultures and has become increasingly popular in schools, communities and court systems in recent years. Here in Buffalo, individuals began advocating for restorative justice nearly two decades ago. Since then, many organizations, community groups, and schools have been using the practice …
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Body Cameras for the Buffalo Police: Best Practices for Policy Creation
Sarah Wooton — Dec 21, 2017
This policy brief was drafted by Sarah Wooton, policy analyst at Partnership for the Public Good. It recommends that the Buffalo Police Department adopt policies governing the use of body cameras with a focus on six areas: activation, pre-report viewing, footage retention, footage protection, public disclosure of footage, and public input. Research suggests that simply adding body cameras may not improve policing without strong policies in each of these six areas.
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The City of Buffalo Police Department
Sarah Wooton — Dec 21, 2017
This fact sheet was drafted by Sarah Wooton, a policy analyst at Partnership for the Public Good. It documents the history and demographics of the City of Buffalo Police Department, its recent activity, its organization and chain of command, the bodies that are tasked with oversight of the department, and how residents can file a complaint. The fact sheet shares the current schedule of district community meetings happening monthly across the City, and concludes by listing contact information …
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Advancing Racial Equity and Public Health: Smarter Marijuana Laws in Western New York
Andrea Ó Súilleabháin — Nov 14, 2017
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Another Voice: Build on Progress in Police Reforms
Sarah Wooton, Denise Walden — Oct 23, 2017
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Better Policing for the City of Buffalo: Toward Community, Transparency, and Justice
Andrea Ó Súilleabháin — Sep 26, 2017
This policy brief recommends that the Buffalo Police Department expand its community policing efforts through culture change and incentives, a diversified police force, increased training, improved transparency and oversight, more restorative justice and diversion programs, and the use of crime prevention through environmental design. The brief is based on “Collaboration, Communication, and Community-Building: A New Model of Policing for 21st Century Buffalo,” a 2016 PPG …
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Collaboration, Communication and Community-Building
Open Buffalo Nov 18, 2016
As the nation strives to improve police-community relations, safeguard the lives of officers and residents, and reduce crime while respecting civil liberties, voices around the country – from President Obama to ordinary citizens – are calling for more community policing. The Buffalo Police Department (BPD) has taken important steps toward embracing community policing, such as hiring community police officers, providing all officers with some community policing training, …
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Access to Justice in Buffalo and Beyond: Making the Justice System More Welcoming for Refugees
Fidèle Menavanza — Jun 23, 2016
As an essential human right, much has been written about access to justice. Still, too many poor people lack this essential access all over the world when they face major life challenges. The issue confronts people experiencing poverty around the globe, as well as close to home. Access to justice for the most vulnerable is as encompassing as our country is diverse, affecting all races, ethnic groups, and ages. Victims of domestic violence, people with disabilities, homeowners facing …
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The Potential Impact of Legalizing, Regulating, and Taxing Marijuana on Erie County and New York State
Sam Magavern — Oct 28, 2015
The costs of continuing the prohibition of marijuana far outweigh the benefits. Prohibition costs the public a large amount of money in law enforcement expenses and lost tax revenue; it imposes great harms on individuals, families and neighborhoods by criminalizing relatively harmless behavior and spawning a large, violent, underground economy; and it contributes heavily to the large racial disparities in our criminal justice system.
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Lisa Strand Interview
The Public Good Radio — May 26, 2015
The Public Good Radio interview with Lisa Strand of the Legal Aid Bureau on WUFO AM 1080.
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Poverty, Race, and Community Policing in Buffalo
Partnership for the Public Good — Mar 27, 2015
The region’s inequality has dramatic effects in every aspect of life, and the criminal justice system is no exception. As PPG documented in its 2013 report, Alarming Disparities, African-Americans account for 14% of Erie County’s population but 43% of arrests and 65% of prison sentences, and Hispanics represent 4.7% of the population but 7% of arrests and 9% of prison sentences. For some charges, the disparities are especially striking; for example, African-Americans …
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Prisons of Poverty
Teresa A. Miller — Mar 1, 2014
The Buffalo Poverty Research Workshop V interview with Teresa A. Miller, Vice Provost for Equity and Inclusion and Professor of Law at the University at Buffalo.
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Alarming Disparities: The Disproportionate Number of African American and Hispanic People in Erie County Criminal Justice System
Open Buffalo — Nov 1, 2013
This study on the disproportionate number of African-American and Hispanic people in the Erie County criminal justice system reveals four findings for further analysis. Representation of the African-American and Hispanic populations is disproportionately high in each stage of the criminal justice process, from arrest through sentencing. The disparities grow worse at each stage of the process. Violent felonies and drug felonies yield the greatest racial disparities. The …
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Gang Prevention in Buffalo, NY and National Best Practices
Gabriella Agostinelli — Apr 25, 2013
While there is no consensus over a specific definition of “gang,” research has identified a group of characteristics to discern whether a group is a “gang.” According to the Office of Juvenile and Delinquency Prevention, these characteristics include: formal organizational structure (not a syndicate), identifiable leadership, identified territory, recurrent interaction, and engaging in serious or violent behavior.
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Best Practices in Mental Health at Corrections Facilities
Sahil Jain — Nov 1, 2011
Police, court personnel, and correctional staff interact with, stabilize, and treat more persons with mental illness than any other system in America—making criminal justice agencies the largest mental health provider in the United States. Yet a wide gap exists between the training of corrections staff and the enormous responsibility they have for day-to-day management of mental health issues. To narrow this gap in jail and prison settings, the best practices include training …
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The Erie County Holding Center and Correctional Facility
Rachel Jones — May 2, 2009
The Erie County Holding Center is a maximum security detention center. The Center is used to house inmates before their trials. The Erie County Holding Center is located at 40 Delaware, Buffalo New York, 14202. The Erie County Correctional Facility is a medium security facility, which can house 1,070 inmates. It holds inmates who have committed a variety of different crimes. The Correction Facility also houses parole violators for the State of New York. These …
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Alternatives to Incarceration
Regional Institute — Oct 10, 2007
Like criminal justice officials throughout the country, Erie County officials and criminal justice system stakeholders are grappling with jail conditions at the Erie County Holding Center and Erie County Correctional Facility that can be summed up in two words: chronic overcrowding. With jail construction costs skyrocketing and the nature of the jail population changing, identifying obstacles in the system that contribute to overcrowding and implementing alternatives to incarceration …
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Violent Crime in the City of Good Neighbors
Regional Institute — Feb 1, 2007
A look at violent crime rates over the past twenty years shows that the ebb and flow of crime in Buffalo has reflected trends in many other cities: up in the early ‘90s, down during the mid and late ‘90s and rising gradually since 2000. Similarly, the city’s shrinking police force is mirrored elsewhere as cities struggle with limited resources— resources that are hard to direct given uncertainty about the causes of crime.