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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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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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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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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 …