VILLAGE OF EAST SYRACUSE – East Syracuse residents, DeWitt councilors and local law enforcement showed up last week to engage with a presentation and discussion concerning community policing.
The PowerPoint delivered by DeWitt Police Captain Brenton White went over the rules around appearance tickets and arraignments, the limited amount of time the department has to collect evidence, the instances for which cash bail can be requested, and the definitions differentiating harassment from assault and larceny from burglary, robbery, trespassing and criminal trespassing.
White also showed the call volume over the last five years—a figure that has hovered between 4,400 and approximately 6,000 annually—in addition to mentioning the prevalence of crime by category.
During the talk, multiple residents interjected claiming that officers had failed to report to the scenes of certain crimes and violations in the past. At other points, the reply to their complaints was that the department’s “hands were tied,” some said.
One East Syracuse mother brought up that her son was left limping after a group of East Syracuse Elementary classmates ganged up on him on school grounds. The incident, recorded on a cell phone, resulted in several suspensions, but not long after, the same group allegedly entered the woman’s front yard and spit in her direction without punishment.
Despite her appreciation for its youth programs, another mom said she has lost the desire to stay in the village due to its crime, adding that nowadays it would be the last place she’d purchase a home.
A number in attendance wondered if patrols could be increased for East Syracuse to both deter wrongdoing and make up for the dissolution of the village’s police department back in 2014. A few others asked how they could go about making a change within the bounds of the law.
In response, White said residents can start by bringing their arguments to senators, members of congress and assemblypeople.
“Our police department can only do so much,” said Ernestine Cooper, one of the Town’s police commissioners. “But we as citizens…we’ve gotta take back our authority. You take a white piece of paper and put some black letters on it and you sign off on it.”
Calling herself a believer in “yes” rather than “no” or “maybe,” Cooper said the residents need to see more in return for their tax dollars and their reputations as law-abiding citizens.
A different officer who attends to four counties in total said that problems with crime are “all over” and not just in East Syracuse, pointing to the consequences of bail reform as the culprit for repeat offenses.
Later in the evening, White stated that dispatch is always carried out on a priority basis and that police vehicles will occasionally scope out an area first, preventing them from immediately reporting back to a complainant.
He also said that DeWitt’s marked cars, let alone its unmarked cars, are sometimes difficult to detect due to the reflective striping on the sides.
Additionally, in order to address police absence, White said he would need to know the day and time of day that an individual dialed 9-1-1 if they claim that no one responded to their call.
In other news
To allow for easier plowing handled by the department of public works between the hours of 2 and 6 a.m., a newly approved code change prohibits parking in the municipal lots at North Center and West Ellis streets unless a person is on Village business.
