KINGSTON – The City of Kingston will begin deploying several proactive police-community engagement initiatives, starting in May.
The initiatives include walking or bicycle patrols, attending community meetings and events, field information gathering, traffic details, and Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.
The focus will be community trust-building and information gathering; however, if officers come across criminal activity, they may address it appropriately.
“We hope these initiatives will demonstrate our commitment to trust-building with true community policing endeavors, while also empowering our officers to take community engagement into their own hands with this grassroots approach,” said Mayor Steve Noble. “This is a model that has not yet been seen in our area. We are proud to lead the way by introducing these new initiatives to garnering community trust while giving our officers autonomy over the public engagement process.”
“We see this as a positive community policing initiative and anticipate it will be a highly effective response to the recent increase in gun violence,” said Chief Egidio Tinti. “A report from the New York Attorney General’s Office expressed concern over the law enforcement partnership conducted last year, and we have heard that loud and clear from our community as well. We know we need to approach police-community interaction differently, and we hope these positive initiatives will be a step in the right direction.”
“Engagement and forming partnerships with the community are essential aspects of community policing and is imperative when developing trust between police and citizens,” said Alderwoman Rita Worthington. “Toward that end, we remain committed to proactively building community relations with law enforcement through forums, events and meetings, and I remain positive that these police-community engagement initiatives will be one of many steps toward fostering that trust.”
