The Police Benevolent Association and Buffalo Professional Firefighters Association are going to court to request an injunction to prevent police and fire disciplinary records from being made public.
Oral arguments will continue next month in a lawsuit filed by the unions representing Buffalo police officers and firefighters, in their bid to halt the release of certain disciplinary and personnel records to the public. On Wednesday, all but two of several motions by parties looking to get …
While Census data is available for congressional districts, the U.S. Census bureau does not publish data for local political boundaries. We tried to fill this gap by creating a set of nine council fact sheets outlining key data for each district. This includes demographics, …
Watch the full workshop recording here. City budgets and police budgets are complicated beasts. To understand how much we—as a city—spend on policing, the Buffalo Co-Lab and PPG hosted a Buffalo Police Department Budget 101 Workshop. Guest speakers included …
By Matthew Spina | June 30, 2020 When police and federal agents raid residences, they don’t always get it right. Buffalo police in 2008 used a battering ram to force their way into a West Side apartment, and threatened a family of eight with firearms, one of …
By Sam Magavern | June 23, 2020 In 2016, Partnership for the Public Good and Open Buffalo published a comprehensive report on policing, titled “Collaboration, Communication, and Community-Building.” The report included detailed information about the city’s …
By Marian Hetherly | June 19, 2020 Demonstrations erupting locally and across the world sparked by George Floyd's killing have been begging for a resolution to the racial inequities between blacks and whites. Buffalo, itself, has sat near the top of most-segregated cities …
The Fair Fines and Fees Coalition, Partnership for the Public Good, and the African American Health Equity Task Force sent a letter to the Common Council urging a repeal of 13 new fees related to traffic violations that the City of Buffalo added in 2018. A repeal of the fees is essential for …
By Phil Fairbanks | June 9, 2020 Early on, when protests turned to vandalism and injuries, it could have easily overshadowed the change protesters hoped George Floyd's death might bring about. But not for the activists knee deep in a yearslong effort to end police …
By Rod Watson | May 20, 2020 This is what it's like dealing with the Catch-22 of living in low- or moderate-income neighborhoods preyed on by thugs: You need more police protection, yet more police can mean more tickets that consume desperately needed money. It's the fiscal version of "stop …
While COVID-19 has impacted our entire region, according to recent testing data, it is hitting some areas harder than others. According to national and local research, COVID-19 has also affected certain populations of people, such as black and African American populations, more severely than …
For many around the globe, May 1st, or May Day, is known as International Workers' Day or Labor Day. Historically, May Day was central to the movement that ultimately won the eight-hour work day. This year, perhaps more now than in recent decades, there is greater awareness across the U.S. of the …