Batavia's top cops offer more information in proposed 'neighborhood sweeps'
One of the keys to what officials are calling a neighborhood sweep program in Batavia is to give law-abiding residents a safe outlet for sharing with cops what they're seeing on their blocks.
While explaining further the program to The Batavian today, Batavia PD Chief Shawn Heubusch and Assistant Chief Rob Yaeger, used the example of "Granny Smith" and how she'll benefit from the program and interact with police.
"She's going to have a police officer come up to her door and talk to her, because, you know, Granny Smith is probably the lady that says, 'I don't want to bother the cops. They've got so much better things to worry about,' " Yaeger said. "Or she's going to be one of those says, 'if I say anything, they (the criminals) are going to know it's me.' We're going to talk to everybody on the street so nobody can be singled out so somebody can say, 'that's the one who said something.' "
Contrary to previous reports, Heubusch said, the police aren't coming in and locking down a neighborhood for two or three hours. People will be able to come and go -- maybe not without being asked to show an ID -- and the sweeps will be over quickly.
"That's one of the keys to this -- giving people the outlet to come and talk to us," Heubusch said. "Like Rob said, there are people won't call us because they don't want to bother us, or they won't call us because they're concerned about what might happen to them. Well, if you've got a whole neighborhood willing to make that connection right there, in person, face to face, without any fear of retribution, that's going to embolden or empower people to come forward with more information in the future."
The timing for the program, perhaps, couldn't be better, the city's two top cops said.
In recent months there've been reports of shots fired on State Street and on Jackson Street, an armed robbery on Jackson, armed robberies of local hotels and an alleged burglar picked up this week off Park Avenue while carrying a loaded handgun.
The gun play is getting worse and worse and worse," Yaeger said. "We need to stop this and clean it up now."
The program is inspired by a series of neighborhood sweeps instituted in Buffalo. Law enforcement and municipal leaders there have met with Batavia officials and are providing ongoing consulting. The sweeps have been very, very successful in Buffalo, Yaeger said.
"The chief in Buffalo told me, 'if we had started this program 20 years ago, we wouldn't be having the problems we have now,' " Yaeger said. "It's been very, very successful for them and the citizens absolutely love it."
It's been so successful and so well received in Buffalo, Yaeger said, local residents should wait to see it implemented in Batavia before passing judgment.
"In Buffalo, the neighborhoods love it," Yaeger said. "The block clubs love it. You'll see, once it's been tried here, the neighborhood will love it. There will be positive reviews."
The sweeps won't just include police officers. There will also be code enforcement officers, parole and probation officers, animal control officers and representatives of other government agencies.
"It's going to be like one of those national night out events where everybody comes out for a meet and greet," Yaeger said. "They're going to get to know the cops, get some of their issues addressed -- 'I don't know who to call, who can help.' It's not like we're showing up in SWAT gear saying, 'OK, who are you hiding in there?' Nothing like that. It's going to be positive."
Neighborhoods selected for sweeps will be chosen based on data -- increased numbers of calls for service, more reports of criminal activity and perhaps one particular house known to be a cause of trouble or specific individuals in a neighborhood police believe will be causing problems.
In most cases, in fact, police might have one or two or three known troublemakers they hope to locate in a particular neighborhood, which is why a street might be closed to vehicle traffic, making it harder for targeted individuals to slip out without detection.
The sweeps will be completely unannounced for that reason, as well.
Heubusch agreed with City Manager Jason Molino who said part of the goal is for law enforcement to be a nuisance for those who are being a nuisance.
"That's one of the things that is often over looked in policy today," Heubusch said. "Because we're often inundated with calls, officers are often tied up on other things, so to go out and do that proactive police work where you're just bothering the people who are bothering us is tough to do sometimes. So you put together details like this and it gives our officers the opportunity to be a bit of a nuisance for the people who are being a nuisance."
For civil libertarians, Heubusch said the police officers will obey the law and department regulations, which means a person can't be forced to provide identification or detained without probable cause.
Of course, police officers can pretty much tell when somebody is refusing to provide identification on principal compared to the guy who won't provide identification because he has something to hide, and will react -- within the limits of the law -- accordingly.
The sweeps themselves, it's not a hostile takeover of a neighborhood," Heubusch said. "We're not going to be shutting Granny Smith in her house so she can't go get her medication or go see her granddaughter in a play or anything like that. It's going to be targeted enforcement in specific areas to try and squash the criminal activity."