POUGHKEEPSIE – City cops are back walking the beat in the City of Poughkeepsie.
Mayor Robert Rolison and Police Chief Thomas Pape said the officers will address quality of life concerns in and around the Main Street corridor.
Officers Michael Braren and Kevin Van Wagner took to the streets starting on April 22 to let people know that the Community Policing unit is back. Due to budget cuts under the previous administration, the unit was shelved in 2011, resulting in a rise in complaints of panhandling and vagrancy in the area of Main and Market Streets. Foot patrols in the area are currently scheduled for Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
“Their main goal right now is to be a visible presence out on Main Street, introduce themselves to all of the business folks that are along there, and the workforce in the Main Street corridor,” said Chief Pape.
“Lind of hearken back to the early days of community policing where everybody is on a first name basis and if there is a problem that isn’t an emergency, rather than calling headquarters and having an officer that maybe they don’t know respond, they will able to call these officers directly and have discussions about problems that are happening in the area.”
Domenick Diecidue, owner of Main Street Pizza said the foot patrols are “long overdue and their presence is already being felt.” The pizza maker said that he has already noticed a decline in panhandling from the users of the park next to his shop.
Refugio Contrera, owner of C&F Shoe Repair on Main Street called the foot patrols “a wonderful way to help with the revitalization of the city.”
Misty Ebert of Real Property Abstract praised the revived program. “In the past few years, panhandlers in the downtown area have become very aggressive. It’s frightening when the one guy, in particular, starts knocking on your car window and yelling at you to give him money. I hope that the police presence will change his behavior.”
Mayor Rolison said that panhandling will never be fully eliminated in urban environments but “the visible presence will go a long way towards curtailing it.”
Both Rolison and PBA President Kevin Van Wagner said that the unit is a direct benefit of the retention plan agreement that has provided incentives to cops so they won’t transfer to other departments.
Van Wagner also credited his bosses saying “the chief and the command staff were a huge factor in pushing this unit forward.”
Rolison noted that there is potential to increase the number
of officers assigned to the unit when the new hires complete the police academy
in a few months.
