NIAGARA FALLS—The statistics cannot be denied: Niagara Falls remains a struggling city, hit hard by unemployment, poverty and other economic problems.
But there’s also no denying that statistics show crime is going down.
Police Superintendent John R. Chella said last week that putting more officers on the street and equipping them with more information about crime and criminals have led to the improvement.
“We are not crime-free,” he said. “I am not foolish enough to say we are the safest community in America, but I will rely on my crime analyst to tell me how we are doing. If we are not doing OK, then we will redeploy to effect a reduction in crime.”
Among the positives that police found in the reports comparing the 12-month period ending September 2010 and September 2011
• Aggravated assault dropped from from 162 to 148.
• Larcenies from vehicles went down 10 percent, from 297 to 267.
But while statistics say one thing, perception says something else. Chella lays the blame for Niagara Falls’ reputation as a city out of control with crime at the feet of the news media.
“The news outlets traditionally focus on burglaries, robberies and assaults,” he said. “It does make for sensational reading, but it’s a small percentage of what Niagara Falls is all about.”
Chella said the department’s reporting system prevents the miscategorization of major crimes into minor ones.
“We have a team in place, a captain and patrolman, who read every report every day to determine if the criteria in the report meets the crime the officers reported, every time,” Chella said. “If we need to change anything, it’s usually done with the oversight of the [state] Department of Criminal Justice Services.”
Chella conceded that it was a “rough” summer for burglaries in Niagara Falls, with many crimes involving kicked-in air conditioners and metal or copper theft while residents were on vacation.
“But we are still down nearly 13 percent [from last year], and I would suspect that with the arrests we made with the copper and metal thefts and people being home more often, the fall and winter numbers are going to be down even more,” he said.
Mayor Paul A. Dyster agreed and said having more police on the street should help.
“For some reason we have a reputation for crime in downtown Niagara Falls that isn’t necessarily deserved,” Dyster said. “You have to fight the perception. The businesses are victimized because of the perception of crime.”
He said more new officers on the streets helps because that means fewer overworked officers and less overtime.
“The perception that there is law and order in the streets—and the police are actively out there and patrolling to eliminate problems—is sometimes as important as the actual statistics,” Dyster said.
Chella bristles at the suggestion that positive news coming from his department is being manipulated. The numbers of crimes must be submitted to the the state Department of Criminal Justice, he said, and those numbers show that crime is down in many categories.
Crimes such as homicide, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny from a vehicle and stolen vehicles are statistically monitored. Most districts saw improvement; Hyde Park did the best with decreases in all six categories, and Niagara Street was on the bottom with decreases in only three of six categories.
Chella said those statistics are analyzed every two weeks to spot problems.
“Let’s say there’s an increase in business break-ins in the LaSalle section. Then they get the attention,” Chella said.
The definition of “attention” ranges from putting plainclothes officers into a problem area to giving out background information and photos of known thieves.
“It was a needle in a haystack years ago because we were going in there blind,” he said. “Now, as in the instance of [a recent surge] in copper thefts, we gave those officers information in three-ring binders. We are
Chella said this policing method was highlighted in a recent arrest over the summer, when a known car thief was stopped by police and found with a GPS device. Chella said officers turned on the GPS and activated the “home” feature, leading them to the victim on his porch, ready to call police because someone had broken into his car.
A recent problem with copper thefts led to several arrests.
“[The officers] knew the individuals were out there. That’s proactive patrol,” Chella said.
Chella said auto thefts target tourists, and that’s an area that has gotten special attention.
Dyster said foot, bicycle and electric vehicle patrols at parking lots in tourist areas give people better protection.
That approach was started in 2010 when crime was increasing in the Pine Avenue business district. This summer, it expanded to include six more business districts: LaSalle Avenue, Hyde Park Boulevard, the Route 62 corridor, Niagara Street, Main Street and downtown.
Code Enforcement Director Dennis Virtuoso said that as the population of the city has decreased and the economy fails, there are more and more vacant homes.
“If it’s vacant, people will try to break into [the house,]” Virtuoso said. “We try to secure them the best we can when we hear about them. We need the public’s help.”
Virtuoso said the city sends letters to owners to remind them that while there is no law saying a home can’t be vacant, it has to be kept to code.
“We will secure it [if we get a complaint,] but we can’t fix it,” Virtuoso said.
Chella said his department’s concentration on vacant housing has been successful.
He said they are also attempting to educate the public by recommending car doors be locked at all times and items such as a GPS not be left in plain sight.
Chella said the state-funded Operation IMPACT, which has given the Niagara Falls Police Department hundreds of thousands of dollars each year over the past eight years, has paid for computer analysts and overtime to reduce crime.
“I’ll be the first to admit we’ve got issues — issues with people carrying guns, issues with those who don’t respect other people’s property. Show me one urban area that’s economically depressed that doesn’t have issues,” Chella said.
“There’s a new wrinkle every day, but I think we are in a better position to smooth out that wrinkle more quickly than we have in years past,” Chella said.
Includes reporting by News Niagara Reporter Charlie Specht. nfischer@buffnews.comnull
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