EGGERT: Building valuable partnerships in town

Let me start this month’s column by thanking the staff at the Union-Sun for their continued cooperation with the “most wanted” column. As everyone knows, the Union-Sun regularly publishes a “most wanted” section that pictures some of the people wanted by the Lockport Police Department for various outstanding arrest warrants. In the last year, we have located and arrested dozens of people based on tips generated by the photographs being displayed in the newspaper. This past week we were able to arrest every person pictured in the paper — a clean sweep! The Union-Sun has become a valuable asset to help us protect the residents of Lockport.

I would also like to congratulate the Building Inspection Department for their diligence in addressing critical housing issues throughout Lockport. Jim McCann and his staff of hard working building inspectors have been very aggressive in identifying and addressing many community and police concerns about nuisance homes or dangerous housing in the city. Recently, Judge Thomas DiMillo signed a series of search warrants to inspect a number of problem homes in the city for building code violations. We were invited to accompany building inspection staff as they executed some of those warrants. The officers that assisted were impressed with the dedication and professionalism of the building inspection staff. Shocking living conditions were discovered along with significant problems in the physical condition of many of the multiple apartment houses we visited. One interesting discovery at a 4-unit apartment house on South Street was the presence of an expensive surveillance camera system. This particular home has been the sight of numerous police calls including assaults, knife fights, loud music, disorderly behavior, and drug dealing. The police department has sent several letters to the out-of-town landlord of this house to encourage greater attention to the property. Unfortunately, our letters were not effective. Thankfully, due the building code violations cited by the inspectors, this house will soon be declared uninhabitable. Without the efforts of the building inspectors, the occupants of this house, and other problem houses, would continue to be a concern, both for the police and the people in the affected neighborhoods. I wonder what that camera system was for?

Building the types of law enforcement-community partnerships described in the opening paragraphs have become a vital and necessary task for the police to continue to be effective in today's fast-paced society. We now live in a global community where so many things are interdependent. Gone is the time when a single department, a city, a town, or even a county could successfully stand alone against the negative forces of crime, housing blight, poverty, and other related civic problems. By educating, training, and building cooperative partnerships with our citizens, fellow public agencies, and the business community, we enhance the ability to protect our community. I read an article recently that called these types of partnerships “the ultimate force multipliers.” The meaning of this is that two (or more) groups working together make each single group significantly more effective with little increase in cost to the taxpayers.

The police department already has developed partnerships with the media, with our Building Inspection Department, and with all local, state and federal law enforcement agencies that operate in our city. We successfully partner with our community through an active Neighborhood Watch program coordinated by Captain Jeff Brodsky and the Rev. Mark Sanders. This program gives people in the community the tools and the education to become the eyes and ears of the police. This is important because the police simply cannot do it alone any more. We are always on the lookout for people interested in forming new Neighborhood Watch groups. Please call us if you are interested.

A valuable partnership has been formed with our local school system with our School Resource Officer Program. This coming school year we will also partner with our local schools to re-introduce a comprehensive drug resistance and education program designed to give our kids the tools they will need to cope with drugs, gangs, and violence. In the near future, we will be examining new initiatives that will reach out to our local business community and other public service agencies to develop a ”community network” of partners to assist us in our continuous efforts to fight crime and its related effects. As part of this community network, we hope to reach out to our local faith-based community for ideas on their participation and support. Local congregational leaders are a valuable and powerful force. In many instances, they will be the first to learn of problems or issues that affect our neighborhoods. We are also always looking for any new, innovative, or cost-effective ideas from anyone that will help us build these valuable partnerships and allow us to better serve our community. Should you have a good idea, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Larry Eggert is chief of police for the City of Lockport. Contact him at 439-6633 (chiefeggert@elockport.com) or the Niagara County Drug Task Force at 439-4442.