City: What specific steps will you take within the police
department and the rest of the criminal justice system to reduce the level of
crime?
Duffy: Well first
of all, I would like to point to the successes we’ve had and our track record
so far. Project Cease Fire and Project Exile work and have demonstrated
measurable success. So I would like to continually expand those partnerships. I
would love to create a sense of permanent partnerships with the state police
and the sheriff’s department.
But the biggest step I am taking is creating a countywide
crime commission. It is not adding bureaucracy. It is bringing together law
enforcement, social services, county, educational systems, and probation —
and really looking at data, research, planning and implementing — really
looking at it from a big-picture perspective, because crime includes so many
different efforts, and police response is just one of many.
Next I will ensure that RPD specifically will increase their
resources to be able to do two things: first, respond to 911 calls in a quick
and timely manner, and two, add permanent walking beats, not only downtown but
in neighborhoods, by foot and bike patrols. That level of presence is
incredibly important.
What specific steps
will you take in other areas to reduce crime?
First of all, education, economic development, and public
safety are inextricably linked. You cannot fix one without the other. Having
kids stay in school, having kids prepared to work and having them come out and
have a job when they graduate will have an incredible impact on public safety.
And I would like to see a big increase two things: first,
work-scholarship programs and job training; number two, bring wealth into the
city. Keeping businesses here and drawing new businesses into the city. We have
to create an incredibly broad economic-development base that will really create
wealth and jobs.
I have a proposal for bringing key economic development and
business leaders together to create a specific business plan for the city. It’s
about jobs and creating wealth in the city. And another project that is kind of
a pet project with me is to find the funding streams and resources needed to
recreate the level of summer jobs we once had. I’ve been on the street, and this
summer more than ever we are seeing teenagers on the streets, hanging out doing
nothing.
I grew up in Rochester,
and I could take advantage of CETA jobs and federally funded work projects.
People need to understand that we probably aren’t going to see federal funds
like that, but we need to find the funding to help get these kids summer jobs.
This is a critical time for violence. It is summer, and this is the time when
kids are there doing nothing and getting into trouble, and we have lost the
financial viability to hire these teens.
I think we have to understand that economic development,
education, and public safety are linked, but if there are no jobs for these
kids during the summer or when they graduate, we’re going to see more of what
we’re seeing right now.
And the Hillside Work Scholarship Program: perfect.
Tutoring, mentoring, and employment, those three things, doubled the graduation
rate from 31 percent to 61 percent, and 80 percent of those kids go on to
college. Here’s the challenge: We don’t have enough kids going into that
program.
It’s as if there’s this conveyor belt that kids are getting
off and going to prison. We have to stop this right here. We need to fix the
problem upstream. I don’t have the research in front of me, but I would guess
that three-quarters or more of the inmates at the MonroeCounty jail do not have a
high-school diploma. They’re dropouts and they’re in there for burglary,
larceny, drug dealing, and so on.
Do we need more
police officers? If so, how many?
Well, I believe we need more, but it’s hard to quantify how
many. Couple of things I would look at: We need to expand the hiring process
and cut down on the bureaucracy. We need to go from the current 18 months to
two years from testing to hiring down to four months or less.
Next, what can we civilianize from the police department?
You can not do that unilaterally. There are a lot of jobs currently being done
by police officers that can be done by civilian employees, but that has to be
negotiated [in the police-union contract].
Next, it’s about evaluating where we are at fully staffed,
accessing what more it takes to answer 911 calls quickly — and I am going to
say 50 for a starting point. But it is going to be expensive. I would say
$70,000 per officer.
How will you pay for
it?
First of all, I would look for redirecting some expenditure
from other areas. Second, I would look for some very creative packages to see
if there is a partnership we can create between the city, the county, and the
private sector, because this is an investment that I
think will pay dividends. Getting state funding for just the start up is not
the answer because this program would go on year after year for at least a few
years. If that doesn’t happen, I have three other very specific packages. But I
choose not to go into them right now.
Do we have enough
information to abandon the new reorganization of the police department? If so,
how should we organize the department?
We have to separate campaign rhetoric from the reality, and
we have to analyze data and results of the reorganization and then see what
those recommendations are for change. The reorganization has worked in so many
ways, but there are clearly parts of it that have to be addressed. There are
people inside and outside that are not happy with it, but we have to keep in
mind that this is about change and change is not easy for some people.
How would you measure
success in public safety?
I was chief from 1998 up to 2004.During that seven years, we
cut homicide by 30 to 32 percent. That’s success. We’ve been a model department
throughout the state and in some cases in the country. [Looking at the success
of New York City in reducing crime,
there are two things to consider.] One is the incredible infusion of resources.
That has been a cornerstone of their success; they will tell you that. Second,
is the economy. That’s why I have been saying we have
to look at education, economic development, and public safety together. I am
not saying the picture is rosy. I’m not saying that at all. But we have to get
past the campaign rhetoric, and my decisions are going to be based on the data
and the research from all three areas.
This article appears in Aug 3-9, 2005.
