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Showing posts with label Larry Eggert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Larry Eggert. Show all posts
Thursday, January 7, 2016
ENP STAFF REPORTS
news@eastniagarapost.com
A retirement party for former Lockport Police Chief Larry Eggert will be held from 6 - 9 p.m. Jan. 30 at the Lockport Town & Country Club
Eggert stepped down Dec. 30 after 36 years of work with the LPD. More than 100 people stood in line to wish him well on his last day of working for the department.
The party is $30 per person, which includes food and an open bar. Tickets are available at Lockport Police Department. For more information call 439-6689
Check out East Niagara Post videos on YouTube, Vine and Periscope.
news@eastniagarapost.com
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LPD Chief Larry Eggert shakes hands with Niagara County
Sheriff Jim Voutour on Eggert's last day on the job, Dec. 30.
A retirement party is planned for Egger on Jan. 30. (ENP
FILE PHOTO)
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Eggert stepped down Dec. 30 after 36 years of work with the LPD. More than 100 people stood in line to wish him well on his last day of working for the department.
The party is $30 per person, which includes food and an open bar. Tickets are available at Lockport Police Department. For more information call 439-6689
Check out East Niagara Post videos on YouTube, Vine and Periscope.
Wednesday, December 30, 2015
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| Lockport Police Chief Larry Eggert receives a departing handshake from LPD Capt. Mike Niethe, who will take the reins of the department effective Thursday. (PHOTOS BY SCOTT LEFFLER / ENP STAFF) |
By +Scott Leffler
scott.leffler@eastniagarapost.com
Lockport Police Chief Larry Eggert was honored this morning by colleagues and loved ones as he walked out of City Hall for one last time as chief of police.
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Several members of the Lockport Fire Department were among the more than
100 who wished Eggert well.
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Attendees comprised current and former Lockport Police officers and administration -- including former officer Steve Ritchie, who enjoyed a similar send-off when he retired in June of 2014. Eggert and Ritchie share the unfavorable experience of having been shot in February of 2003 -- and former police Chief Neil Merritt, who retired in late 2007 and now works private security. Also in attendance, Capt. Mike Niethe, who will be sworn in as Lockport's new chief of police on Friday at the Palace Theatre, although he actually starts the job tomorrow.
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The line of well-wishers stretched outdoors, where Eggert was greeted by
former LPD Officer Steve Ritchie.
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As some wished Eggert adieu, there were laughs. For others there were tears. He reminded one well-wisher early in the nearly 15-minute goodbye that today was a celebration, "not a funeral."
Like Merritt before him, Eggert, who has worked for LPD for 36 years, is also planning to go into private security in the new year.
RELATED LINKS:
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| Niagara County Sheriff Jim Voutour bids adieu to Eggert at Lockport City Hall this morning. |
Check out East Niagara Post videos on YouTube, Vine and Periscope.
Thursday, May 7, 2015
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| A panel of experts on heroin and opiate addiction talked with and fielded questions from the community Wednesday night at Lockport High School. From left, are Kevin Newman, Bill Watson, Joe Claypool, Laura Jowly, Jessica Sherman and Mark Sanders. Not pictured is LPD Chief Larry Eggert. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS) |
By +Scott Leffler
scott.leffler@eastniagarapost.com
About 40 people turned out for a forum Wednesday evening on heroin and opiate addiction at Lockport High School — hoping to find a cure for what ails the city.
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Jessica Sherman of Kids Escaping Drugs talks
with an audience of about 40 Wednesday night
at Lockport High School.
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The entire panel agreed that the crisis has reached a level of being an epidemic.
Laura Jowly, director of the outpatient chemical dependency program at Horizon Health Services, said that there were 1,950 drug-related deaths in Niagara County in 2012. Of those, nearly half — 914 — were from opiates.
"Every family is affected by this," said Lockport Police Chief Larry Eggert.
"We're working out best to try to combat this," said LPD Det. Kevin Newman. "But it's totally out of control."
The problem with opiate addiction is multi-pronged, panelists said, starting with the fact that it's easy to obtain, easy to use, and doesn't come with the stigma of other drugs.
Jowly explained people often get addicted to opiates — like Oxycontin — because they're prescribed it from a doctor or get it for free from a family member to deal with pain. Often innocent use then turns into what's meant to be recreational drug use. Then the user runs out and they need a substitute.
"Prescription drugs are very expensive to buy," said Eggert. "But heroin is not."
Newman, also a member of the Niagara County Drug Task Force, concurred. "They become addicted to opiates and then they turn to heroin, which is much cheaper."
From there, the addict will run out of money for heroin and start to steal in order to support their addiction. Their number one source to steal from: family.
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Lockport Police Chief Larry Eggert is a fan of the city's
drug court — for the way it can turn addicts' lives around.
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City Court Judge Bill Watson called family "the first line of defense."
Presiding over the city's drug court, Watson has a unique view of drug addiction. He said there's a stigma attached to the word "addiction," but added, "what I've learned over the years is 'addicts are us.' They're our friends. They're our relatives. They're our neighbors."
In explaining drug court, Watson asked the audience to look at addiction as a disease and drug court as part of the treatment. He said that using a court as advocacy or an intervention method may go against what people view the court system to do — but it works.
Even Eggert said he was originally skeptical of drug court until he saw it in action and saw the benefits from it. Now he wants to get addicts into drug court. "If you have a family member that's addicted, let us arrest them."
The 90-minute forum was moderated by Mark Sanders, LPD's community policing aide, or as he said, "a civilian on the inside." Following presentations from the panelists, Sanders opened the floor to questions from the audience, most of what could be summed up as, "how can we help?"
Sanders said one way to help is to call the police when something seems askew — whether that something is with a loved one who isn't acting right or a neighbor who has more in-and-out traffic than seems normal. Giving law enforcement an "in" will help to clear up neighborhood blight and may save that loved one from an addiction.
Joe Claypool, resource coordinator for treatment in the Lockport courts, agreed. "Police are telling you to call in with tips. Drug dealers are counting on you not to."
And if that can happen?
"Hopefully the community will see some results real soon," Det. Newman said.
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| Lockport City Court Judge Bill Watson explains what drug court is and how it works. |
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Saturday, January 10, 2015
BY SCOTT LEFFLER
scott.leffler@eastniagarapost.com
A lawsuit against the City of Lockport, Lockport Police Department, Officer Michael Wasik, Lt. Marshall Belling, and Police Chief Larry Eggert blames the city and police department for the wrongful death of a pitbull named Junior on Sept. 27.
The lawsuit claims that Officer Wasik and Lt. Belling entered the backyard at 335 South Street around 3:30 p.m. on the date of the incident, letting the pitbull into the front yard when doing so, "where they discharged their firearms numerous times, gratuitously and in an unjustified manner, thereby shooting and killing claimant’s eight-year old canine."
Filed in Niagara County Supreme Court on Dec. 19 by Matthew A. Albert of Buffalo, who is serving as the attorney for the owner of the dog, Zachary Smith, the lawsuit does not seek specific compensation for damages.
(CLICK HERE TO READ THE LAWSUIT)
In addition to the wrongful death claim, the lawsuit states that the police department unlawfully seized Junior's body and withheld evidence from Smith, while wrongfully charging him with crimes related to the incident.
"Simply put, Chief Eggert and his department have unlawfully ignored requests for documents, withheld records, tampered with evidence, and have been playing cover up and hide the ball since they killed the dog," Albert said.
For those reasons, Albert said, it was decided that in addition to the lawsuit, a group of animal activists would carry out a bit of public relations in serving the paperwork to Eggert, something that was done on Dec. 23.
A pair of process servers — Morgan Dunbar and Robin Donovan — dressed as elves, arrived at the Lockport Police Station with an announced "present" for Eggert. An unwitting Mark Sanders brought the chief out into the lobby of the police department to be served with the paperwork by the elves.
The whole incident was captured on camera and posted to YouTube:
Albert said the trick was not merely for entertainment value. "Serving them on a video that has now been viewed by thousands of people may have been the only way for the department to actually acknowledge service of the paperwork."
Eggert acknowledged tonight by phone having been served in the peculiar manner. He said he didn't look at the entirety of the paperwork, but rather forwarded it to Corporation Counsel John Ottaviano.
Eggert noted that the criminal procedure against Smith is ongoing and will next be in court on Jan. 26.
Albert claims those charges are “trumped up,” and retaliatory in nature. “Even if one were to adopt the Police’s fraudulent version of events, how in God’s name does one permit a dog to break through a locked gate? This whole thing is a sham, and that is by far the nicest word I can use to describe these proceedings.”
In addition to the YouTube campaign, a Facebook page "Justice 4 Junior" was set up shortly after the dog died. It has 1,138 likes as of this evening.
RELATED:
scott.leffler@eastniagarapost.com
A lawsuit against the City of Lockport, Lockport Police Department, Officer Michael Wasik, Lt. Marshall Belling, and Police Chief Larry Eggert blames the city and police department for the wrongful death of a pitbull named Junior on Sept. 27.
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| (DOCUMENT SCAN) |
Filed in Niagara County Supreme Court on Dec. 19 by Matthew A. Albert of Buffalo, who is serving as the attorney for the owner of the dog, Zachary Smith, the lawsuit does not seek specific compensation for damages.
(CLICK HERE TO READ THE LAWSUIT)
In addition to the wrongful death claim, the lawsuit states that the police department unlawfully seized Junior's body and withheld evidence from Smith, while wrongfully charging him with crimes related to the incident.
"Simply put, Chief Eggert and his department have unlawfully ignored requests for documents, withheld records, tampered with evidence, and have been playing cover up and hide the ball since they killed the dog," Albert said.
For those reasons, Albert said, it was decided that in addition to the lawsuit, a group of animal activists would carry out a bit of public relations in serving the paperwork to Eggert, something that was done on Dec. 23.
A pair of process servers — Morgan Dunbar and Robin Donovan — dressed as elves, arrived at the Lockport Police Station with an announced "present" for Eggert. An unwitting Mark Sanders brought the chief out into the lobby of the police department to be served with the paperwork by the elves.
The whole incident was captured on camera and posted to YouTube:
Albert said the trick was not merely for entertainment value. "Serving them on a video that has now been viewed by thousands of people may have been the only way for the department to actually acknowledge service of the paperwork."
Eggert acknowledged tonight by phone having been served in the peculiar manner. He said he didn't look at the entirety of the paperwork, but rather forwarded it to Corporation Counsel John Ottaviano.
Eggert noted that the criminal procedure against Smith is ongoing and will next be in court on Jan. 26.
Albert claims those charges are “trumped up,” and retaliatory in nature. “Even if one were to adopt the Police’s fraudulent version of events, how in God’s name does one permit a dog to break through a locked gate? This whole thing is a sham, and that is by far the nicest word I can use to describe these proceedings.”
In addition to the YouTube campaign, a Facebook page "Justice 4 Junior" was set up shortly after the dog died. It has 1,138 likes as of this evening.
RELATED:
- Police shoot, kill dog on South Street after attack
- Records: Dog had history with police
- Police offer personal accounts of dog attack and shooting
For instant access to East Niagara Post's YouTube videos, social media feeds and more,
Friday, October 31, 2014
ENP STAFF REPORTS
news@eastniagarapost.com
East Niagara Post co-publishers Heather Grimmer and Scott Leffler sat down recently with local law enforcement officials to discuss domestic violence. Niagara County Sheriff Jim Voutour, Lockport Police Chief Larry Eggert, Anita Provenzano and Doug Haak shared their thoughts with us on this very important issue. The question-and-answer session follows below.
SCOTT LEFFLER: Some very very simple basics. And this goes to the heads of each department. Well, not necessarily. But I wrote this question towards the heads of each department. Does your office have a policy or theory on how to handle domestic violence cases?
DOUG HAAK: It comes from New York State.
JIM VOUTOUR: It's New York State protocol.
SL: Which is?
DH: Pro-arrest policy. If there's a crime that is committed, an arrest is made.
LARRY EGGERT: Actually, the county and the city of Lockport, were the first to use the policy. We've been doing this for quite a while.
SL: If I recall correctly, it had a lot to do with the Simpson/Brown case — O.J. Simpson.
LE: That was the trigger. It was on the radar, but then it really got moving.
SL: I guess that leads to my next question, which is that oftentimes domestic violence cases are "he said / she said." How do you get to the root of the matter and separate fact from false claim.
DH: Our officers are specifically trained to have interview questions that can distinguish initial aggressor. That's what the state's looking for. Sometimes it is "he said/she said" and we have to use our basic interview skills to be able to decide who's telling the truth and who isn't. The system seems to be working at that point. And if there is enough evidence after our interviews, an arrest is made.
SL: There was a case a couple weeks ago maybe, in which a male was arrested for, I don’t know whether it was harassing or assaulting a female. No. It was the female that was arrested first. And then a couple days later, the male was charged with almost an identical crime. Does that happen a lot? Obviously, I don't want to get into names but are you familiar with what I'm talking about?
DH: It doesn't. Very very rarely does it because there's alway an initial aggressor. Someone's always the first one to initiate something. Order of protections are given immediately after an arrest. It depends on the severity of the crime, but our judge is on board with us. He automatically issues an order of protection. Whether or not the victim wants it or doesn't. It's automatic. So in the case of the scenario that you're giving, it could have been that he showed up and did something back to her or it could have been a retaliatory thing. It could have violated an order of protection. Two days later, doesn't necessarily mean he was arrested based on the first initial thing. I'm just speculating.
JV: It's actually rare that both get arrested.
SL: On the issue of an order of protection. That goes both ways, right? If Sheriff Voutour has an order of protection against me and he shows up at my door, can he be charged with violating an order of protection?
JV: It's specifically, there's a petitioner and a defendant.
SL: If he shows up at my door, can I be charged with violating an order of protection?
JV: That's too broad of a question.
SL: Well let's change the setting - we're in a public place.
DH: The defendant has knowledge of the order of protection?
SL: Correct.
DH: If you're in a public place, he or she has an obligation to leave immediately or face being charged.
SL: What constitutes a public place?
JV: Anything that not private. A home is private.
SL: Is a business private?
JV: A business is private, but that can be construed as a public place if its open to the public to come into.
SL: Does it get gray?
JV: It can, but, for the most part, we're pretty smart guys. We can figure out what's public and what's private. Keep in mind that ... we pretty much do the same things with domestics. One difference I want you to be aware of is I deal with 28 town judges who all have different opinions and protocols. Well, not protocols. But they do things different. I don't have judge Watson or Judge DiMillo every time. I might have someone in Barker and the next day I might have someone in the Town of Niagara. We're dealing with different judges.
SL: Different judges look at things differently?
JV: just like cops look at things different. Just like you might look at a story and say 'that's going to be a great story' and Heather might say 'Scott, that story stinks.'
SL: You’d be surprised how often that happens. (laughs) She is right 90 percent of the time.
JV: So, you know, judges are unique. They're unique people. That's why in the towns, they're elected officials. In the city too, of course.
SL: Do you know … not know … well, no. When arresting someone, 'Oh crap, this is going to go before "x" and he's going to get nothing or he's doing to get out. Or she. I don't mean to be discriminatory in my explanation here. But when you arrest someone in a specific township, for example, and you know what judge it's going to go to, without trying to get you in trouble here, do you sometimes wish it would end up somewhere else?
DH: We don't have that issue because we deal strictly with the District Attorney's office.
LE: A lot of the more serious cases go to the county.
JV: Any felonies ...
ANITA PROVENZANO: Really, Scott, no one's going to say that ...
SL: Fair enough.
AP: I mean there are certain judges that ...
SL: I didn’t ask you to name judges.
AP: I mean, there are certain ones that are more lenient.
DH: We go right through the District Attorney's office. so as far as a judge, how we do it in the city of Lockport ... we go through the district attorney's office. They make recommendations and then that goes before the judge. And then the district attorney decides how they want to proceed. It's been a system that is really well looked at. And then if it is very serious, it goes right up to the county anyway. To the county prosecutors that handle the felonies and the really serious ones.
LE: They do a good job screening and taking cases ...
JV: Bail recommendations sometimes.
AP: And the ADAs actually ask us to forward all the felony charges over there to look at ... anything that's assault or whatever is always forwarded over to teh DA's office.
JV: I guess the point with the town judges is, it's probably safe to say that if you took, let's say, an assault third - a misdemeanor assault - in front of five judges, you could get five different bails. On something more serious like a felony, they're going to call the DA that's on call and get a recommendation on bail. But on any basic assault ... or sometimes a harassment. You're calling a judge at 3 in the morning sometimes. You might get $100 from one judge. You might get $300 from the next. $500 from the next. You might get no bail from another one. It varies. And they have that latitude. They're not doing anything wrong. Again ... Heather likes the story. Scott doesn't like the story. Judges are different. You could get something different between DiMillo and Watson. It's just ... they have that leniency and there's not hard and fast rules for each case. They look at each case for its merits. and that's how they base it.
HEATHER GRIMMER: You mentioned bail. Can you explain what bail is. Because a lot of our readers have no idea what bail is and they think it's supposed to be a punishment.
JV: It's not.
HG: Can you clarify?
JV: It just guarantees an appearance in court. It's that simple.
LE: No matter what the charge.
JV: No matter what it is.
LE: Sometimes we get backlash. "How come they don't have more bail?"
JV: And they always blame the police for that. Someone will do the most egregious crime. Like animal abuse. Animal abuse sells like no tomorrow in the media. They'll set $500 on an animal abuse case. And then they yell at me and Larry on social media "Why isn't the bail higher. What's wrong with these police?" We don't have anything to do with it.
SL: Sometimes you do, though, right? There are instances where there’s police bail. How does that work?
DH: We can set bail based on the criminal procedure law up to certain amounts for anything e-felony down. Usually, what we try to do, I know when I was shift commander, I would set the maximum for the charge based on the criminal procedure law. But ultimately, the judge could come in, do and arraignment and redo my bail. Which often happens.
JV: Happens with us too.
DH: And like we said before, bail is never used as a punitive measure. I, myself tried to be very consistent with my bails, so that no one could say, "well there was personality involved." Or anything like that. If there as a DWI, it was a $500 bail. If it was this it was $250. And I tried to stay very very consistent with my bails so that it took all that personality right out of it. But quite often, some of the things that we dealt with, especially domestics, you're dealing with felonies where we can't set bail. The judge has to be notified. And our court, because of the city, we do have full-time judges. If a domestic incident occurs, we as police officers cannot set bail. Mandatory. It has to be in front of a judge.
JV: Same with us. There's exceptions to everything.
DH: Everything. But the rule of thumb is: Domestic, police officers, supervisors and the chief of police cannot set bail until that person is arraighned before a judge. Or magistrate.
SL: Is that to allow a cooling off?
DH: Basically because of the new protocols that have been instituted since the OJ Simpson incident, our judge, when he come sin, no matter what, will issue an order of protection for our victims. It really has nothing to do with a cooling off period. It has to do with protocols of this individual is going to get served an order of protection that states - there's one of two - a full stay away or a limited order. Full stay away means you can't be around them, kids, homes, owrk, whatever. Or if it maybe a spouse, first time offense - depending on the issue - they may offer a limited order that says that you have to refrain from harassing, stalking, annoying, those kind of behaviors. And that's usually revisited after a six-month period. Or when they go back to court to discuss the state with the victim. If she says, "well, we tried that temporary one, it didn't work out too well for us," then the judge and the district attorney has the ability to bump it up to a full stay away, which can be anywhere from six months to, I've seen as long down the road as a 10-year order of protection. Which is pretty serious.
SL: We’ve both done this Doug. We’ve both used “he” and “she.” And when we've done it, "he" has been the aggressor and "she" she has been the victim. How often is that the case? I know it's not universal, but is that typically the case? Is that still the standard, if you will.
DH: Statistically.
AP: But we are getting more and more male victims.
DH: Maybe 85/15. Maybe even higher. Maybe 90/10
SL: Anita, why do you think there are more male victims? Is it that there are more male victims or that they’re more willing to come forward?
AP: I just think men are withholding. Trying to control themselves and a woman is beating on them, harassing them. And they go to the cops or they call and have the cops intercede to solve the problem. Sometimes it ends up with an arrest if the girl's really hurting them. I mean, some of these girls are wicked when they fight.
DH: Remember, too, Scott, that we live in a different time now where same-sex relationships are prevalent. So when we're talking male victims, it could be a male victim in a relationhips with another man. We live in a whole different time now where society is accepting to this and the laws cover that just as much as it covers a heterosexual relationship. So you've seen a little bit of an increase because of that. Which is a good thing. ANd that came into effect about two year ago under the Cuomo administration where same-sex relationship relatinship are treated with the same protocols as heterosexual relationships.
SL: To be clear, most people, self included, tend to generalize domestic violence as spousal abuse or significant other abuse. But it also includes other familial relations, correct?
JV: Well, it includes children as well. If you beat your kids, that's a domestic. So it's anybody ... it's two people that have a relationship of some form. It always has been that way.
SL: Earlier you mentioned special training that officers undergo. Is that part of police academy? Is that after police academy? Are there checkups? Do they get re-done? What is the training?
DH: We have a specialized unit, I know the Sheriff's department does too, We have a domestic violence unit that oversees, looks at, reviews all of our domestic incident reports. Those officers have gone to specialized training through the state. Through the Department of Criminal Justice Services - on how to deal with, specifically how to deal with victims. How to interview them. Signs to look for. As far the department goes, we've continued to have training over the course of the last 16 years or so. With the changes in the environment, we have evidence-based prosecutions that came into effect a few years back where we don't need a victim to sign a statement anymore. If there's probably cause to believe a crime has occurred, we can make the arrest just based on our own observations. So they're up to speed on that.
AP: Obstruction of breathing.
DH: Obstruction of breathing just came into effect. Once those criminal laws come into effect, the state is very good at sending us not only briefings, but case law to back up the briefings, which we do at our briefing time. We have training at our briefing time just to let the officers know, "here's a new charge. Here's what it constitutes, here's the statute. This is the punishment." And if a victim says, "Yeah, he put his hands around my neck and caused me fear and I couldn't breathe," before that, the charge was harassment. Now it's obstruction of breathing. Now it's a misdemeanor, which is a big difference when we're talking about going to court.
SL: Doug, do you head that unit?
DH: Do I? Yes.
SL: Do you have a title?
DH: To be honest, I just call myself "in charge of the Domestic Violence Unit." I don't give myself a title. I'm just the same as any of the other guys that are working.
SL: Create you have your own police department, you can make your own titles. That’s what we did. Well, not our own police department. But we made our own titles.
DH: No. No. Chief's doing a great job. I'm good.
AP: But we have six or seven officers on the team.
SL: Is there always one on duty?
DH: Most of them because they're older now, most of them are on the day shifts. But we go out at night. We do home visits. We do safety planning. It's the same as the Sheriff's Department. They do the same stuff. Sue LaRosa would tell you the same thing. Each of us model ourselves after each other. We have monthly and quarterly meetings together. So that we're all on the same page. We're all training the same way. So there's consistency. I think that's the big thing. There's consistency among the departments and among the victims. You don't want a victim on Robinson Road in the town saying "Well, the Sheriff's Department did this," and then they moved into the city, "Well you guys do that." We all do the same thing. I mean guys handle calls a little differently but the protocols are all the same.
SL: That leads to one of my questions actually. How is … without BS-ing me because I’m sitting here at the table. How’s the communication between the departments? Because I know that sometimes something will happen in the town. And something else will happen in the city. They're treated differently. Every different officer, despite going to the same training, might view things differently. How do you keep things in line between, not just in the city but from the city to the Sheriff's Department. Do you guys have meetings? Do you get together?
JV: I can tell you that's probably the one thing that we do best. On a county-wide way. They know about all the domestics in the town. We know about all the domestics in the city. All that information gets compiled into one database so if Doug is reviewing a domestic that happened on West Avenue in Lockport, he might see that that couple lived on Robinson Road and had six priors. All of that is compiled.
SL: Now is that true with all crime or is that specific to domestic?
JV: Just domestics.
SL: Really? Who created that?
DH: The state actually came out with a project to do it. And the county having the most resources to have that database, everything gets filtered through the county. So all of our reports from us, NT, all the cities ...
JV: That includes State Police, city of Niagara Falls, every police agency in this county.
DH: We send our reports directly to them.
JV: We kind of ... I don't want to say retain them all, but we compile them.
SL: Is that available in the car? Or is that something that’s at dispatch?
DH: We have access to it through our dispatch centers.
SL: Okay.
JV: Do you want the 2013 numbers for the county? For domestics.
SL: Yes, I do.
JV: 3,169 domestic violence reports county-wide. Niagara Falls had 1,400. The Sheriff's Office handled 800. Lockport, 230. Again, that's 2013. We don't have 2014's yet.
SL: Lockport was 230?
JV: Lockport was 230. So there is one big database of reports that we call can see. So if we need, again, we can see "I got John Jones here involved in a domestic. He's involved in Barker. He's involved in Niagara Falls. So we can see the history."
DH: And that also works with order of protections. We pull up a name and just because the order of protection was given in Newfane, it doesn't mean Lockport doesn't have access to it if for some reason the parties were at Lock 34, they showed up and they say, 'I got an order of protection.' If we don't have documentation, we can immediately go to the database and find out yes, indeed, there is an active order of protection. And they'll be able to disseminate that information to our units on scene.
JV: And that could be the basis for an arrest.
SL: Sheriff Voutour, do you know how these numbers compare to last year? Steady?
JV: They remain pretty steady. They've always been pretty consistent.
DH: I have our numbers up to September of this year.
JV: Which are?
DH: We have ...until September, we reviewed 475 domestic incident reports, which has led to 173 victims.
SL: When you say 173 victims, does that mean that there have been 173 charges?
DH: There was 173 arrests based on those DIRs. So that's how we kind of distinguish. Because just because we reviewed 475 domestic incident reports, that doesn't mean there's 475 victims because domestics give a lot of repeat business, it could be the same person. The same victim. And anytime, we show up on any call that's considered a domestic, a domestic incident report has to be completed. That's by our protocols made by the state. So there could be multiple DIRs for the same person.
JV: You could also have a domestic where nothing takes place that would be an offense or a crime. Two people may call the police because "she lit a candle and he doesn't want it lit. They get into an argument over the candle. Police get called."
DH: And quite frankly, this quarter is the worst quarter for domestic violence because of Christmas and Thanksgiving. Right around Thanksgiving is our busiest time of the year. And that's consistent in the last 16 years that I've been doing this.
JV: And you also have fights with custody of children. "I get 'em Thanksgiving." "No, you don't." And they get into a fight. That has a lot to do with it, too.
SL: It seems to me just in reading police reports that October was busy in terms of domestic incidents. Did I just happen to notice them more because of it being Domestic Violence Awareness Month? Or was this month … was something weird in people's Wheaties this month?
LE: You get ... for no rhyme or reason ... you'll get one shift with 25 domestics and you'll think "What the heck is going on? Is there something in the water?"
JV: If the Bills lose.
LE: Yeah. It happens.
DH: If the Bills lose, we get fights. We're not joking at all. If you think about it, most the time when you're watching a football game, beverages are being served. And all of the sudden, things didn't go their way. People are passionate about their sports. You're not going to see a humungous fight. But you will see incidents where we are called because the Bills lost. And they will say that. The holiday season is a very tough season. Finances. That has a lot to do with it. You can see it increase, just based on these numbers, for this year. Our numbers are going to be up ... I don't want to say significantly ... but in a double-digit higher percentage than they were last year.
AP: The weather's starting to change. With the colder weather, people are inside a lot more, too. Cooped up people get a lot of arguments going.
SL: You kind of touched on this earlier, but I want to ask it specifically. If someone not directly involved, say a neighbor or someone passing by, calls and says, "hey I hear something in the apartment downstairs, the apartment next door, or the house across the street. Will you guys go check it out?" And they indicate for some reason or another that they feel like it's a domestic incident, but you get there are both parties say they're fine and everything is great, is there anything that can be done? Or are your hands tied?
JV: We've all been on those calls. You're doing you evaluation as you're interviewing if you can even get their door open.
DH: Stop. Listen. You park down the street a little bit. Those are all the tactical protocols. You go there with two man teams. You stop. You listen.
JV: A lot of times, you listen before you go in. It's the key. But everyone is so different, Scott. It's so hard to give you a blanket answer.
SL: It sounds to me like you're saying that there are things that can be done.
JV: If we look through a window and she's got a black eye or we see an assault in progress, they'll probably be lying under a door if they don't open it. We have a duty to act. Or if the door opens and she's standing there with a black eye or bleeding or he's standing there bleeding ...
SL: Now the other side of that is you go to something, you feel like you know what's going on, but there's no physical evidence, there's nothing you can do about it, is there something that you wish that victims of domestic violence knew that they don't? Do you ever wish you could just hand somebody a not discretely and be like 'look, here's a tip for you.'
DH: A big thing that Anita does better than anyone at this table just by the fact that she has a women's group, or victim's group that she has every Wednesday ... and one thing that I've gotten out of it is to tell these individuals that they're not alone. That this is not a unique problem to just them. And I think that that's a big factor because they think that they're alone. They're with somebody for financial reasons or because of a home or because of a job. There's things that can be done.
AP: Watching the children.
DH: The things that come out of people's mouths of why they stay ... because of an animal.
JV: Religious beliefs.
DH: "My parents won't forgive me." Just really really
LE: The sheriff has said it a couple times, it's a different dynamic every time you walk through the door. There's no two that are exactly the same.
AP: And the one thing is, too, you were mentioning sometimes the guys do go look in a window and something's going on, and the girl will deny it. She might have a black eye. And the guys see it, what's going on, sometimes they see them, actually with a weapon or whatever. And I think they need to know that this evidence-based prosecution is new now, isn't it?
JV: It's probably seven or eight years old.
AP: But it's hard ... certain judges ...
LE: Do you know what evidence-based prosecution is?
SL: I think I get the general gist. Is that you can be the plaintiff.
DH: Bad guy. No, we can be the bad guy.
SL: Right.
DH: That's how I look at it.
SL: So the other person doesn't need to press charges.
DH: Correct.
SL: You can press charges on their behalf to an extent.
AP: Like the girl will say, "no, no, no. I'm alright."
DH: You get the 911 call, "oh my God, he's beating me." Click. You get there and "oh, no, that was the kids playing with the phone." And then you see the phone dangling off the wall, she's got marks. The furniture's all in disarray.
JV: Nobody else in the house.
DH: No kids in the house. He's sweating. He's got blood on his knuckles. I mean, those kind of things, we separate, we start taking photos, we start interviewing. And based on the experience of the officers, we make an arrest.
AP: I wish they'd use that more, really, because we do have a lot of that that goes on and they deny it, and there is evidence there. But a lot of the guys, they'll really take a stand on it and say they're going to do it.
JV: It's harder to prosecute because you have a victim that's not willing to testify or give a statement. So it is harder to prosecute ...
SL: You mentioned your group on Wednesdays. Are there enough resources available for victims of domestic violence? Is there enough being done to help after the fact?
AP: Yes, we have a lot of ... there's a lot of support systems.
JV: A ton of 'em.
AP: All over the place. Shelters. There's financial help. There's help with clothes, furnishings for apartments.
DH: Cell phones.
AP: Right, cell phones. We have ...
JV: Panic buttons.
AP: Right. Apartments. Transitional housing for them.
DH: In Niagara Falls, they have a domestic shelter that includes animals if that's an issue for people that have a cat or a dog because, believe it or not, people won't leave their homes if they think they're going to leave an animal behind. So now there's homes that will now take animals ...
AP: There's two main things that I think stand in the way. That is transportation. These mothers, they don't have any transportation to get to job interviews. You know, we try to promote them to go out. I do. To get out and work, they'll feel good about themselves. They're working. They're around people. They're not dependent on DSS. Transportation and babysitting. Child care. That's the hardest thing for these women to get. And they ... it kind of inhibits them to be able to out and find a job. A lot don't have families that are supportive and will baby sit. Some have small little toddlers and they don't have anyone to watch them or can't pay for day care. So these kids are kind of stuck. They have to go on social services or whatever. Those are the two main things I see as inhibiting them from going out and getting on their own.
HG: You touched on resources. What are some of the ways that victims of domestic violence find themselves obtaining the resources. I know through arrest and whatnot, that's kind of a clear path to getting help. But what about the girls that are in danger? They're too afraid to call the police. What are some ways they can seek help? If they haven't been introduced through the system yet.
AP: Well there is the hotline. There's the domestic violence assistance hotline. It's out there. It's in the phone book. It's in all kinds of advertising. So all they need to do. Or dial 911.
DH: She's saying without police intervention.
AP: Oh without police intervention. I'm sorry.
HG: If they've been too scared to. Or they don't know that is a resource.
AP: The hotline is the best way to get hooked up with support services. And those are Erie County, Niagara County. I'm sure Susan, I know she does, I get calls all the time just from your name being out there. From people from different counties. The southern tier. They're coming to here. Got your name from somebody. It always astounds me.
DH:DH: I think what Anita is alluding to here is, if they do get her name or they do call us in kind of a blind reporting kind of way, we set them up with the YWCA, which has great programming. Child family service has great programming. Even DSS has great programming without involving the police. And a blind format, peopel do that all the time.
JV: JV: Yeah, there's no shortage out there of help, at all. You can call the YMCA and say, "I'm in a domestic situation and I need help." They will get you to the right spot. There's no shortage.
DH: Without police involvement.
AP: I know you're saying without police involvement, but I have to say most of these officers are very very fluent in referring girls to help. They give them the numbers to call. They give them - they're homeless. They help them. They'll call me. I'll get calls at night from some of the officers wanting to know if a girl can get into the shelter. So these guys have resources themselves that they share with victims.
JV: One phone number that we have is 438-3301. Domestic violence intervention. But that is ... it's not 24/7. So it's important to remember that. And keep in mind anytime we fill out a DIR, a domestic incidence report, which, by the way, is being revamped by the state. Should be out in a couple months. They've actually gone to the police officers and said, "how do we make this form better?" They're rewriting it. It should be out very soon. But ... we give a victim sheet off the back of it. It's a carbon-copy type report and we fill that report out. And we have to do it on scene. And then we rip the back page off and we hand it to the victim. There's all sorts of resources and everything on the back. In two languages. Spanish and English.
DH: People are not afraid to come out now and discuss it. Talk about it because it such a, I don't want to say "hot topic." It's always been there. But now it just seems that it's okay to say that "yeah, this is happening to me. And it happened to Ray Rice or whoever. And let me get the help that I need now to get out of this relationship. But can we do more? Absolutely.
JV: And if you're living with Race and you're raising a baby, you're a 22-year-old girlfriend, wife, whatever. And you're with a guy making $5 million a year in the limelight. It's hard to leave that. It might take a few punches to the face ... and that's sort of the unfortunate part. And you can bring that right down to an incident in the city of Lockport where we've got a young mom who maybe didn't go to college, doesn't work. Dad works maybe over at Delphi, providing for the family. And she's looking, saying "I got nowhere to go. If I leave him, I have noting." And that's what keeps these ladies in these relationships."
AP: It does. But one idea I had. And I'm guilty of procrastinating also this month. I was thinking of having a poster contest with the paper where, throughout the schools. And have a contest with each grade level. Not you know like the middle school. The intermediate, high school ... and you can get some prizes and have them submit their entries. For domestic violence. I though that'd be a good idea for next year.
DH: What's that ... I don't want to call it a run, but ...
AP: Oh the high heel run?
DH: Where the guys ...
JV: I don't wear high heels.
DH: They would seriously need a big high heel. They don't run, but what is it? "Walk a mile in my shoes," where police officers and other people in the community, they wear high heels and walk that mile and I think it's called "Walk a mile in my shoes?"
AP: Right.
DH: And it brings a lot of focus and attention to domestic violence. I think that would be fun. It'd get a huge response. But we just ... it's hard ...
AP: Money is a big thing.
DH: And it's hard to get somebody out there to really organize something of that magnitude. But it would be big. I think it would be fun. Something neat. Something different.
JV: I just want to give you the New York Domestic Violence Hotline. It's 800-942-6906. Multiple languages. Hearing impaired. All that stuff is on there. Someone can call there anytime day or night and depending where they are, we'll get referred to. If it's something criminal in nature, we'll get notified right away. Maybe it's a psychological abuse that's been going on for 20 years and finally she wants to call or he wants to call. That will get people started in the right direction.
AP: And you can give my number out. I mean just like LPD. 439-6630.
DH: That's not manned 24-hours but there is a voice message that's on there.
SL: I think you very much. Heather you set?
HG: I'm set. Thank you.
news@eastniagarapost.com
SCOTT LEFFLER: Some very very simple basics. And this goes to the heads of each department. Well, not necessarily. But I wrote this question towards the heads of each department. Does your office have a policy or theory on how to handle domestic violence cases?
DOUG HAAK: It comes from New York State.
JIM VOUTOUR: It's New York State protocol.
SL: Which is?
DH: Pro-arrest policy. If there's a crime that is committed, an arrest is made.
LARRY EGGERT: Actually, the county and the city of Lockport, were the first to use the policy. We've been doing this for quite a while.
SL: If I recall correctly, it had a lot to do with the Simpson/Brown case — O.J. Simpson.
LE: That was the trigger. It was on the radar, but then it really got moving.
SL: I guess that leads to my next question, which is that oftentimes domestic violence cases are "he said / she said." How do you get to the root of the matter and separate fact from false claim.
DH: Our officers are specifically trained to have interview questions that can distinguish initial aggressor. That's what the state's looking for. Sometimes it is "he said/she said" and we have to use our basic interview skills to be able to decide who's telling the truth and who isn't. The system seems to be working at that point. And if there is enough evidence after our interviews, an arrest is made.
SL: There was a case a couple weeks ago maybe, in which a male was arrested for, I don’t know whether it was harassing or assaulting a female. No. It was the female that was arrested first. And then a couple days later, the male was charged with almost an identical crime. Does that happen a lot? Obviously, I don't want to get into names but are you familiar with what I'm talking about?
DH: It doesn't. Very very rarely does it because there's alway an initial aggressor. Someone's always the first one to initiate something. Order of protections are given immediately after an arrest. It depends on the severity of the crime, but our judge is on board with us. He automatically issues an order of protection. Whether or not the victim wants it or doesn't. It's automatic. So in the case of the scenario that you're giving, it could have been that he showed up and did something back to her or it could have been a retaliatory thing. It could have violated an order of protection. Two days later, doesn't necessarily mean he was arrested based on the first initial thing. I'm just speculating.
JV: It's actually rare that both get arrested.
SL: On the issue of an order of protection. That goes both ways, right? If Sheriff Voutour has an order of protection against me and he shows up at my door, can he be charged with violating an order of protection?
JV: It's specifically, there's a petitioner and a defendant.
SL: If he shows up at my door, can I be charged with violating an order of protection?
JV: That's too broad of a question.
SL: Well let's change the setting - we're in a public place.
DH: The defendant has knowledge of the order of protection?
SL: Correct.
DH: If you're in a public place, he or she has an obligation to leave immediately or face being charged.
SL: What constitutes a public place?
JV: Anything that not private. A home is private.
SL: Is a business private?
JV: A business is private, but that can be construed as a public place if its open to the public to come into.
SL: Does it get gray?
JV: It can, but, for the most part, we're pretty smart guys. We can figure out what's public and what's private. Keep in mind that ... we pretty much do the same things with domestics. One difference I want you to be aware of is I deal with 28 town judges who all have different opinions and protocols. Well, not protocols. But they do things different. I don't have judge Watson or Judge DiMillo every time. I might have someone in Barker and the next day I might have someone in the Town of Niagara. We're dealing with different judges.
SL: Different judges look at things differently?
JV: just like cops look at things different. Just like you might look at a story and say 'that's going to be a great story' and Heather might say 'Scott, that story stinks.'
SL: You’d be surprised how often that happens. (laughs) She is right 90 percent of the time.
JV: So, you know, judges are unique. They're unique people. That's why in the towns, they're elected officials. In the city too, of course.
SL: Do you know … not know … well, no. When arresting someone, 'Oh crap, this is going to go before "x" and he's going to get nothing or he's doing to get out. Or she. I don't mean to be discriminatory in my explanation here. But when you arrest someone in a specific township, for example, and you know what judge it's going to go to, without trying to get you in trouble here, do you sometimes wish it would end up somewhere else?
DH: We don't have that issue because we deal strictly with the District Attorney's office.
LE: A lot of the more serious cases go to the county.
JV: Any felonies ...
ANITA PROVENZANO: Really, Scott, no one's going to say that ...
SL: Fair enough.
AP: I mean there are certain judges that ...
SL: I didn’t ask you to name judges.
AP: I mean, there are certain ones that are more lenient.
DH: We go right through the District Attorney's office. so as far as a judge, how we do it in the city of Lockport ... we go through the district attorney's office. They make recommendations and then that goes before the judge. And then the district attorney decides how they want to proceed. It's been a system that is really well looked at. And then if it is very serious, it goes right up to the county anyway. To the county prosecutors that handle the felonies and the really serious ones.
LE: They do a good job screening and taking cases ...
JV: Bail recommendations sometimes.
AP: And the ADAs actually ask us to forward all the felony charges over there to look at ... anything that's assault or whatever is always forwarded over to teh DA's office.
JV: I guess the point with the town judges is, it's probably safe to say that if you took, let's say, an assault third - a misdemeanor assault - in front of five judges, you could get five different bails. On something more serious like a felony, they're going to call the DA that's on call and get a recommendation on bail. But on any basic assault ... or sometimes a harassment. You're calling a judge at 3 in the morning sometimes. You might get $100 from one judge. You might get $300 from the next. $500 from the next. You might get no bail from another one. It varies. And they have that latitude. They're not doing anything wrong. Again ... Heather likes the story. Scott doesn't like the story. Judges are different. You could get something different between DiMillo and Watson. It's just ... they have that leniency and there's not hard and fast rules for each case. They look at each case for its merits. and that's how they base it.
HEATHER GRIMMER: You mentioned bail. Can you explain what bail is. Because a lot of our readers have no idea what bail is and they think it's supposed to be a punishment.
JV: It's not.
HG: Can you clarify?
JV: It just guarantees an appearance in court. It's that simple.
LE: No matter what the charge.
JV: No matter what it is.
LE: Sometimes we get backlash. "How come they don't have more bail?"
JV: And they always blame the police for that. Someone will do the most egregious crime. Like animal abuse. Animal abuse sells like no tomorrow in the media. They'll set $500 on an animal abuse case. And then they yell at me and Larry on social media "Why isn't the bail higher. What's wrong with these police?" We don't have anything to do with it.
SL: Sometimes you do, though, right? There are instances where there’s police bail. How does that work?
DH: We can set bail based on the criminal procedure law up to certain amounts for anything e-felony down. Usually, what we try to do, I know when I was shift commander, I would set the maximum for the charge based on the criminal procedure law. But ultimately, the judge could come in, do and arraignment and redo my bail. Which often happens.
JV: Happens with us too.
DH: And like we said before, bail is never used as a punitive measure. I, myself tried to be very consistent with my bails, so that no one could say, "well there was personality involved." Or anything like that. If there as a DWI, it was a $500 bail. If it was this it was $250. And I tried to stay very very consistent with my bails so that it took all that personality right out of it. But quite often, some of the things that we dealt with, especially domestics, you're dealing with felonies where we can't set bail. The judge has to be notified. And our court, because of the city, we do have full-time judges. If a domestic incident occurs, we as police officers cannot set bail. Mandatory. It has to be in front of a judge.
JV: Same with us. There's exceptions to everything.
DH: Everything. But the rule of thumb is: Domestic, police officers, supervisors and the chief of police cannot set bail until that person is arraighned before a judge. Or magistrate.
SL: Is that to allow a cooling off?
DH: Basically because of the new protocols that have been instituted since the OJ Simpson incident, our judge, when he come sin, no matter what, will issue an order of protection for our victims. It really has nothing to do with a cooling off period. It has to do with protocols of this individual is going to get served an order of protection that states - there's one of two - a full stay away or a limited order. Full stay away means you can't be around them, kids, homes, owrk, whatever. Or if it maybe a spouse, first time offense - depending on the issue - they may offer a limited order that says that you have to refrain from harassing, stalking, annoying, those kind of behaviors. And that's usually revisited after a six-month period. Or when they go back to court to discuss the state with the victim. If she says, "well, we tried that temporary one, it didn't work out too well for us," then the judge and the district attorney has the ability to bump it up to a full stay away, which can be anywhere from six months to, I've seen as long down the road as a 10-year order of protection. Which is pretty serious.
SL: We’ve both done this Doug. We’ve both used “he” and “she.” And when we've done it, "he" has been the aggressor and "she" she has been the victim. How often is that the case? I know it's not universal, but is that typically the case? Is that still the standard, if you will.
DH: Statistically.
AP: But we are getting more and more male victims.
DH: Maybe 85/15. Maybe even higher. Maybe 90/10
SL: Anita, why do you think there are more male victims? Is it that there are more male victims or that they’re more willing to come forward?
AP: I just think men are withholding. Trying to control themselves and a woman is beating on them, harassing them. And they go to the cops or they call and have the cops intercede to solve the problem. Sometimes it ends up with an arrest if the girl's really hurting them. I mean, some of these girls are wicked when they fight.
DH: Remember, too, Scott, that we live in a different time now where same-sex relationships are prevalent. So when we're talking male victims, it could be a male victim in a relationhips with another man. We live in a whole different time now where society is accepting to this and the laws cover that just as much as it covers a heterosexual relationship. So you've seen a little bit of an increase because of that. Which is a good thing. ANd that came into effect about two year ago under the Cuomo administration where same-sex relationship relatinship are treated with the same protocols as heterosexual relationships.
SL: To be clear, most people, self included, tend to generalize domestic violence as spousal abuse or significant other abuse. But it also includes other familial relations, correct?
JV: Well, it includes children as well. If you beat your kids, that's a domestic. So it's anybody ... it's two people that have a relationship of some form. It always has been that way.
SL: Earlier you mentioned special training that officers undergo. Is that part of police academy? Is that after police academy? Are there checkups? Do they get re-done? What is the training?
DH: We have a specialized unit, I know the Sheriff's department does too, We have a domestic violence unit that oversees, looks at, reviews all of our domestic incident reports. Those officers have gone to specialized training through the state. Through the Department of Criminal Justice Services - on how to deal with, specifically how to deal with victims. How to interview them. Signs to look for. As far the department goes, we've continued to have training over the course of the last 16 years or so. With the changes in the environment, we have evidence-based prosecutions that came into effect a few years back where we don't need a victim to sign a statement anymore. If there's probably cause to believe a crime has occurred, we can make the arrest just based on our own observations. So they're up to speed on that.
AP: Obstruction of breathing.
DH: Obstruction of breathing just came into effect. Once those criminal laws come into effect, the state is very good at sending us not only briefings, but case law to back up the briefings, which we do at our briefing time. We have training at our briefing time just to let the officers know, "here's a new charge. Here's what it constitutes, here's the statute. This is the punishment." And if a victim says, "Yeah, he put his hands around my neck and caused me fear and I couldn't breathe," before that, the charge was harassment. Now it's obstruction of breathing. Now it's a misdemeanor, which is a big difference when we're talking about going to court.
SL: Doug, do you head that unit?
DH: Do I? Yes.
SL: Do you have a title?
DH: To be honest, I just call myself "in charge of the Domestic Violence Unit." I don't give myself a title. I'm just the same as any of the other guys that are working.
SL: Create you have your own police department, you can make your own titles. That’s what we did. Well, not our own police department. But we made our own titles.
DH: No. No. Chief's doing a great job. I'm good.
AP: But we have six or seven officers on the team.
SL: Is there always one on duty?
DH: Most of them because they're older now, most of them are on the day shifts. But we go out at night. We do home visits. We do safety planning. It's the same as the Sheriff's Department. They do the same stuff. Sue LaRosa would tell you the same thing. Each of us model ourselves after each other. We have monthly and quarterly meetings together. So that we're all on the same page. We're all training the same way. So there's consistency. I think that's the big thing. There's consistency among the departments and among the victims. You don't want a victim on Robinson Road in the town saying "Well, the Sheriff's Department did this," and then they moved into the city, "Well you guys do that." We all do the same thing. I mean guys handle calls a little differently but the protocols are all the same.
SL: That leads to one of my questions actually. How is … without BS-ing me because I’m sitting here at the table. How’s the communication between the departments? Because I know that sometimes something will happen in the town. And something else will happen in the city. They're treated differently. Every different officer, despite going to the same training, might view things differently. How do you keep things in line between, not just in the city but from the city to the Sheriff's Department. Do you guys have meetings? Do you get together?
JV: I can tell you that's probably the one thing that we do best. On a county-wide way. They know about all the domestics in the town. We know about all the domestics in the city. All that information gets compiled into one database so if Doug is reviewing a domestic that happened on West Avenue in Lockport, he might see that that couple lived on Robinson Road and had six priors. All of that is compiled.
SL: Now is that true with all crime or is that specific to domestic?
JV: Just domestics.
SL: Really? Who created that?
DH: The state actually came out with a project to do it. And the county having the most resources to have that database, everything gets filtered through the county. So all of our reports from us, NT, all the cities ...
JV: That includes State Police, city of Niagara Falls, every police agency in this county.
DH: We send our reports directly to them.
JV: We kind of ... I don't want to say retain them all, but we compile them.
SL: Is that available in the car? Or is that something that’s at dispatch?
DH: We have access to it through our dispatch centers.
SL: Okay.
JV: Do you want the 2013 numbers for the county? For domestics.
SL: Yes, I do.
JV: 3,169 domestic violence reports county-wide. Niagara Falls had 1,400. The Sheriff's Office handled 800. Lockport, 230. Again, that's 2013. We don't have 2014's yet.
SL: Lockport was 230?
JV: Lockport was 230. So there is one big database of reports that we call can see. So if we need, again, we can see "I got John Jones here involved in a domestic. He's involved in Barker. He's involved in Niagara Falls. So we can see the history."
DH: And that also works with order of protections. We pull up a name and just because the order of protection was given in Newfane, it doesn't mean Lockport doesn't have access to it if for some reason the parties were at Lock 34, they showed up and they say, 'I got an order of protection.' If we don't have documentation, we can immediately go to the database and find out yes, indeed, there is an active order of protection. And they'll be able to disseminate that information to our units on scene.
JV: And that could be the basis for an arrest.
SL: Sheriff Voutour, do you know how these numbers compare to last year? Steady?
JV: They remain pretty steady. They've always been pretty consistent.
DH: I have our numbers up to September of this year.
JV: Which are?
DH: We have ...until September, we reviewed 475 domestic incident reports, which has led to 173 victims.
SL: When you say 173 victims, does that mean that there have been 173 charges?
DH: There was 173 arrests based on those DIRs. So that's how we kind of distinguish. Because just because we reviewed 475 domestic incident reports, that doesn't mean there's 475 victims because domestics give a lot of repeat business, it could be the same person. The same victim. And anytime, we show up on any call that's considered a domestic, a domestic incident report has to be completed. That's by our protocols made by the state. So there could be multiple DIRs for the same person.
JV: You could also have a domestic where nothing takes place that would be an offense or a crime. Two people may call the police because "she lit a candle and he doesn't want it lit. They get into an argument over the candle. Police get called."
DH: And quite frankly, this quarter is the worst quarter for domestic violence because of Christmas and Thanksgiving. Right around Thanksgiving is our busiest time of the year. And that's consistent in the last 16 years that I've been doing this.
JV: And you also have fights with custody of children. "I get 'em Thanksgiving." "No, you don't." And they get into a fight. That has a lot to do with it, too.
SL: It seems to me just in reading police reports that October was busy in terms of domestic incidents. Did I just happen to notice them more because of it being Domestic Violence Awareness Month? Or was this month … was something weird in people's Wheaties this month?
LE: You get ... for no rhyme or reason ... you'll get one shift with 25 domestics and you'll think "What the heck is going on? Is there something in the water?"
JV: If the Bills lose.
LE: Yeah. It happens.
DH: If the Bills lose, we get fights. We're not joking at all. If you think about it, most the time when you're watching a football game, beverages are being served. And all of the sudden, things didn't go their way. People are passionate about their sports. You're not going to see a humungous fight. But you will see incidents where we are called because the Bills lost. And they will say that. The holiday season is a very tough season. Finances. That has a lot to do with it. You can see it increase, just based on these numbers, for this year. Our numbers are going to be up ... I don't want to say significantly ... but in a double-digit higher percentage than they were last year.
AP: The weather's starting to change. With the colder weather, people are inside a lot more, too. Cooped up people get a lot of arguments going.
SL: You kind of touched on this earlier, but I want to ask it specifically. If someone not directly involved, say a neighbor or someone passing by, calls and says, "hey I hear something in the apartment downstairs, the apartment next door, or the house across the street. Will you guys go check it out?" And they indicate for some reason or another that they feel like it's a domestic incident, but you get there are both parties say they're fine and everything is great, is there anything that can be done? Or are your hands tied?
JV: We've all been on those calls. You're doing you evaluation as you're interviewing if you can even get their door open.
DH: Stop. Listen. You park down the street a little bit. Those are all the tactical protocols. You go there with two man teams. You stop. You listen.
JV: A lot of times, you listen before you go in. It's the key. But everyone is so different, Scott. It's so hard to give you a blanket answer.
SL: It sounds to me like you're saying that there are things that can be done.
JV: If we look through a window and she's got a black eye or we see an assault in progress, they'll probably be lying under a door if they don't open it. We have a duty to act. Or if the door opens and she's standing there with a black eye or bleeding or he's standing there bleeding ...
SL: Now the other side of that is you go to something, you feel like you know what's going on, but there's no physical evidence, there's nothing you can do about it, is there something that you wish that victims of domestic violence knew that they don't? Do you ever wish you could just hand somebody a not discretely and be like 'look, here's a tip for you.'
DH: A big thing that Anita does better than anyone at this table just by the fact that she has a women's group, or victim's group that she has every Wednesday ... and one thing that I've gotten out of it is to tell these individuals that they're not alone. That this is not a unique problem to just them. And I think that that's a big factor because they think that they're alone. They're with somebody for financial reasons or because of a home or because of a job. There's things that can be done.
AP: Watching the children.
DH: The things that come out of people's mouths of why they stay ... because of an animal.
JV: Religious beliefs.
DH: "My parents won't forgive me." Just really really
LE: The sheriff has said it a couple times, it's a different dynamic every time you walk through the door. There's no two that are exactly the same.
AP: And the one thing is, too, you were mentioning sometimes the guys do go look in a window and something's going on, and the girl will deny it. She might have a black eye. And the guys see it, what's going on, sometimes they see them, actually with a weapon or whatever. And I think they need to know that this evidence-based prosecution is new now, isn't it?
JV: It's probably seven or eight years old.
AP: But it's hard ... certain judges ...
LE: Do you know what evidence-based prosecution is?
SL: I think I get the general gist. Is that you can be the plaintiff.
DH: Bad guy. No, we can be the bad guy.
SL: Right.
DH: That's how I look at it.
SL: So the other person doesn't need to press charges.
DH: Correct.
SL: You can press charges on their behalf to an extent.
AP: Like the girl will say, "no, no, no. I'm alright."
DH: You get the 911 call, "oh my God, he's beating me." Click. You get there and "oh, no, that was the kids playing with the phone." And then you see the phone dangling off the wall, she's got marks. The furniture's all in disarray.
JV: Nobody else in the house.
DH: No kids in the house. He's sweating. He's got blood on his knuckles. I mean, those kind of things, we separate, we start taking photos, we start interviewing. And based on the experience of the officers, we make an arrest.
AP: I wish they'd use that more, really, because we do have a lot of that that goes on and they deny it, and there is evidence there. But a lot of the guys, they'll really take a stand on it and say they're going to do it.
JV: It's harder to prosecute because you have a victim that's not willing to testify or give a statement. So it is harder to prosecute ...
SL: You mentioned your group on Wednesdays. Are there enough resources available for victims of domestic violence? Is there enough being done to help after the fact?
AP: Yes, we have a lot of ... there's a lot of support systems.
JV: A ton of 'em.
AP: All over the place. Shelters. There's financial help. There's help with clothes, furnishings for apartments.
DH: Cell phones.
AP: Right, cell phones. We have ...
JV: Panic buttons.
AP: Right. Apartments. Transitional housing for them.
DH: In Niagara Falls, they have a domestic shelter that includes animals if that's an issue for people that have a cat or a dog because, believe it or not, people won't leave their homes if they think they're going to leave an animal behind. So now there's homes that will now take animals ...
AP: There's two main things that I think stand in the way. That is transportation. These mothers, they don't have any transportation to get to job interviews. You know, we try to promote them to go out. I do. To get out and work, they'll feel good about themselves. They're working. They're around people. They're not dependent on DSS. Transportation and babysitting. Child care. That's the hardest thing for these women to get. And they ... it kind of inhibits them to be able to out and find a job. A lot don't have families that are supportive and will baby sit. Some have small little toddlers and they don't have anyone to watch them or can't pay for day care. So these kids are kind of stuck. They have to go on social services or whatever. Those are the two main things I see as inhibiting them from going out and getting on their own.
HG: You touched on resources. What are some of the ways that victims of domestic violence find themselves obtaining the resources. I know through arrest and whatnot, that's kind of a clear path to getting help. But what about the girls that are in danger? They're too afraid to call the police. What are some ways they can seek help? If they haven't been introduced through the system yet.
AP: Well there is the hotline. There's the domestic violence assistance hotline. It's out there. It's in the phone book. It's in all kinds of advertising. So all they need to do. Or dial 911.
DH: She's saying without police intervention.
AP: Oh without police intervention. I'm sorry.
HG: If they've been too scared to. Or they don't know that is a resource.
AP: The hotline is the best way to get hooked up with support services. And those are Erie County, Niagara County. I'm sure Susan, I know she does, I get calls all the time just from your name being out there. From people from different counties. The southern tier. They're coming to here. Got your name from somebody. It always astounds me.
DH:DH: I think what Anita is alluding to here is, if they do get her name or they do call us in kind of a blind reporting kind of way, we set them up with the YWCA, which has great programming. Child family service has great programming. Even DSS has great programming without involving the police. And a blind format, peopel do that all the time.
JV: JV: Yeah, there's no shortage out there of help, at all. You can call the YMCA and say, "I'm in a domestic situation and I need help." They will get you to the right spot. There's no shortage.
DH: Without police involvement.
AP: I know you're saying without police involvement, but I have to say most of these officers are very very fluent in referring girls to help. They give them the numbers to call. They give them - they're homeless. They help them. They'll call me. I'll get calls at night from some of the officers wanting to know if a girl can get into the shelter. So these guys have resources themselves that they share with victims.
JV: One phone number that we have is 438-3301. Domestic violence intervention. But that is ... it's not 24/7. So it's important to remember that. And keep in mind anytime we fill out a DIR, a domestic incidence report, which, by the way, is being revamped by the state. Should be out in a couple months. They've actually gone to the police officers and said, "how do we make this form better?" They're rewriting it. It should be out very soon. But ... we give a victim sheet off the back of it. It's a carbon-copy type report and we fill that report out. And we have to do it on scene. And then we rip the back page off and we hand it to the victim. There's all sorts of resources and everything on the back. In two languages. Spanish and English.
DH: People are not afraid to come out now and discuss it. Talk about it because it such a, I don't want to say "hot topic." It's always been there. But now it just seems that it's okay to say that "yeah, this is happening to me. And it happened to Ray Rice or whoever. And let me get the help that I need now to get out of this relationship. But can we do more? Absolutely.
JV: And if you're living with Race and you're raising a baby, you're a 22-year-old girlfriend, wife, whatever. And you're with a guy making $5 million a year in the limelight. It's hard to leave that. It might take a few punches to the face ... and that's sort of the unfortunate part. And you can bring that right down to an incident in the city of Lockport where we've got a young mom who maybe didn't go to college, doesn't work. Dad works maybe over at Delphi, providing for the family. And she's looking, saying "I got nowhere to go. If I leave him, I have noting." And that's what keeps these ladies in these relationships."
AP: It does. But one idea I had. And I'm guilty of procrastinating also this month. I was thinking of having a poster contest with the paper where, throughout the schools. And have a contest with each grade level. Not you know like the middle school. The intermediate, high school ... and you can get some prizes and have them submit their entries. For domestic violence. I though that'd be a good idea for next year.
DH: What's that ... I don't want to call it a run, but ...
AP: Oh the high heel run?
DH: Where the guys ...
JV: I don't wear high heels.
DH: They would seriously need a big high heel. They don't run, but what is it? "Walk a mile in my shoes," where police officers and other people in the community, they wear high heels and walk that mile and I think it's called "Walk a mile in my shoes?"
AP: Right.
DH: And it brings a lot of focus and attention to domestic violence. I think that would be fun. It'd get a huge response. But we just ... it's hard ...
AP: Money is a big thing.
DH: And it's hard to get somebody out there to really organize something of that magnitude. But it would be big. I think it would be fun. Something neat. Something different.
JV: I just want to give you the New York Domestic Violence Hotline. It's 800-942-6906. Multiple languages. Hearing impaired. All that stuff is on there. Someone can call there anytime day or night and depending where they are, we'll get referred to. If it's something criminal in nature, we'll get notified right away. Maybe it's a psychological abuse that's been going on for 20 years and finally she wants to call or he wants to call. That will get people started in the right direction.
AP: And you can give my number out. I mean just like LPD. 439-6630.
DH: That's not manned 24-hours but there is a voice message that's on there.
SL: I think you very much. Heather you set?
HG: I'm set. Thank you.
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Friday, August 1, 2014
BY SCOTT LEFFLER
scott.leffler@eastniagarapost.com
What started as a check box on a computer menu in the Lockport Police Department ended up going around the world and back with help from an ill-conceived Facebook post that went viral.
When LPD put out a photo of a person they were looking for, it included a description as generated by the computer program the department uses. That description included the selection of "negro-da" (dark) for skin complexion.
A reporter for WGRZ Channel 2 talked with LPD Community Policing Aide Mark Sanders and Chief Larry Eggert Wednesday afternoon concerning the offensiveness of the word, turning it into a story on the matter.
The discussion between Sanders — who's African American — and the Channel 2 reporter caused the LPD employee to post something to his personal Facebook, asking his friends if they felt the word "negro" was offensive? Or simply outdated.
"I wanted to put up the question before it hit the press ... because I wanted to hear real answers," Sanders said Thursday morning. He felt an oncoming storm and he was trying to gauge public opinion before the story broke.
"This guy from Channel 2 came in guns loaded. He already had the story written. He just needed the video," Sanders said.
The Facebook conversation between Sanders' friends was intelligent and thought provoking, he said. So someone suggested bringing the conversation to a wider audience — the LPD Facebook page. From there, it went sideways.
"When I'm asking without the police, great responses," Sanders said. "You put a shield on it and all hell breaks loose."
It went from a Channel 2 story about the selection on a computer program to a much wider story about the Facebook question. It spread to Channel 4, The Union-Sun & Journal, the Buffalo News — and further to downstate newspapers, USA Today, websites like Gawker and more.
The story went from a local one about an outdated word on outdated software to a national one about an outdated police department — or even an outdated city, depending on the angle each reporter wrote from.
Nicole Schuman, owner of SchuShine Communications, said government entities "really have to strategize and think of every worst-case scenario" when using social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter.
"As far as government agencies go, they are there to serve the public, not provide entertainment," she said. "So unless they are asking the public for help in the search of a lost child, criminal, or another case, I would leave engagement questions off the table."
One of the problems, Sanders said, is that everyone is offended by something. And while in 10 years, he's never heard a member of the Lockport Police Department refer to a person of color as a "negro," there are still people — mainly of older generations — that use it.
"My grandmother didn't like the term 'African American,' " he said. "She said, 'I'm not from Africa.' "
The question remained on the LPD Facebook page for about an hour and a half. "We took it down because of a lot of negativity," Sanders said.
Eggert and Sanders both said Thursday that a community discussion on race is still a good idea — just not via Facebook.
"We're considering doing a public forum," Sanders said.
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scott.leffler@eastniagarapost.com
 |
The Lockport Police Department's use of the word "negro" on a departmental report and social
media gathered national attention. (GOOGLE NEWS SCREENSHOT)
|
When LPD put out a photo of a person they were looking for, it included a description as generated by the computer program the department uses. That description included the selection of "negro-da" (dark) for skin complexion.
A reporter for WGRZ Channel 2 talked with LPD Community Policing Aide Mark Sanders and Chief Larry Eggert Wednesday afternoon concerning the offensiveness of the word, turning it into a story on the matter.
The discussion between Sanders — who's African American — and the Channel 2 reporter caused the LPD employee to post something to his personal Facebook, asking his friends if they felt the word "negro" was offensive? Or simply outdated.
"I wanted to put up the question before it hit the press ... because I wanted to hear real answers," Sanders said Thursday morning. He felt an oncoming storm and he was trying to gauge public opinion before the story broke.
"This guy from Channel 2 came in guns loaded. He already had the story written. He just needed the video," Sanders said.
 |
LPD's Facebook question was meant to spur community discussion,
according to police officials. The result was not as intended. (GAWKER
SCREENSHOT)
|
"When I'm asking without the police, great responses," Sanders said. "You put a shield on it and all hell breaks loose."
It went from a Channel 2 story about the selection on a computer program to a much wider story about the Facebook question. It spread to Channel 4, The Union-Sun & Journal, the Buffalo News — and further to downstate newspapers, USA Today, websites like Gawker and more.
The story went from a local one about an outdated word on outdated software to a national one about an outdated police department — or even an outdated city, depending on the angle each reporter wrote from.
Eggert said it's his fault for not thinking through how social media would react.
"Because I was looking at it from an academic perspective," the chief said. "When I do it in class, people have different perspectives and you actually learn something from it. ... I should have known that because (Facebook is) an unregulated site that some of it would have been inflammatory."
"I saw it as a teaching moment. And that's what it was meant to be," Sander said. "It wasn't up for a poll.""Because I was looking at it from an academic perspective," the chief said. "When I do it in class, people have different perspectives and you actually learn something from it. ... I should have known that because (Facebook is) an unregulated site that some of it would have been inflammatory."
Nicole Schuman, owner of SchuShine Communications, said government entities "really have to strategize and think of every worst-case scenario" when using social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter.
"As far as government agencies go, they are there to serve the public, not provide entertainment," she said. "So unless they are asking the public for help in the search of a lost child, criminal, or another case, I would leave engagement questions off the table."
One of the problems, Sanders said, is that everyone is offended by something. And while in 10 years, he's never heard a member of the Lockport Police Department refer to a person of color as a "negro," there are still people — mainly of older generations — that use it.
"My grandmother didn't like the term 'African American,' " he said. "She said, 'I'm not from Africa.' "
The question remained on the LPD Facebook page for about an hour and a half. "We took it down because of a lot of negativity," Sanders said.
Eggert and Sanders both said Thursday that a community discussion on race is still a good idea — just not via Facebook.
"We're considering doing a public forum," Sanders said.
Send an email to news@eastniagarapost.com with "email update" in the subject line.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
ENP STAFF REPORTS
news@eastniagarapost.com
The Lockport Police Department is offering a new way for citizens to help fight crime.
The department unveiled an anonymous tip line today, where residents can call with information that will be treated as not only confidential, but anonymous.
Police Chief Larry Eggert said the tip line runs to an answering machine in the detectives division. It is not hooked up to caller ID, so it offers 100 percent anonymity. It may sometimes be staffed, but will normally go to the answering machine, he said.
The chief said the idea came from a community meeting held on June 24.
"There were a lot of good ideas at that meeting," he said. "This is something we could do right away."
The department got a new phone system earlier this year, which left them with more incoming phone numbers than they needed. The new tip line was one of those phone numbers.
The new tip line, 439-6707, will be put to immediate use, as police are investigating an overnight shooting on Church Street and have asked for residents' help.
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Send an email to news@eastniagarapost.com with "email update" in the subject line.
news@eastniagarapost.com
The department unveiled an anonymous tip line today, where residents can call with information that will be treated as not only confidential, but anonymous.
Police Chief Larry Eggert said the tip line runs to an answering machine in the detectives division. It is not hooked up to caller ID, so it offers 100 percent anonymity. It may sometimes be staffed, but will normally go to the answering machine, he said.
The chief said the idea came from a community meeting held on June 24.
"There were a lot of good ideas at that meeting," he said. "This is something we could do right away."
The department got a new phone system earlier this year, which left them with more incoming phone numbers than they needed. The new tip line was one of those phone numbers.
The new tip line, 439-6707, will be put to immediate use, as police are investigating an overnight shooting on Church Street and have asked for residents' help.
Send an email to news@eastniagarapost.com with "email update" in the subject line.
Tuesday, June 24, 2014
 |
Lockport Police Chief Larry Eggert talks with city residents about a recent outbreak of gun crimes in the city. About 50 people attended tonight's meeting at City Hall. (PHOTOS BY HEATHER N. GRIMMER / CONTRIBUTOR)
|
Police chief asks residents to report what they see
ENP STAFF REPORTS
news@eastniagarapost.com
Lockport Police Chief Larry Eggert asked the public for help in preventing and solving crimes in the city at a meeting tonight in City Hall.
Eggert was joined by Capt. Doug Haak, Capt. Mike Niethe and Community Police Aide Mark Sanders in a question and answer session with about 50 city residents that lasted more than 90 minutes.
"We should be solving these things left and right," Eggert told the crowd. But a lack of communication from city residents — including the victims of the crimes — has tied the department's hands.
In discussing a shooting earlier this year on Walnut Street, Eggert said "We actually know who did that but we can't get the victims to be victims."
Another incident that happened on June 10 involved a man who was shot but wouldn't tell police who did the shooting or even where it occurred.
One positive that the chief pointed out was that these acts of violence are not random.
"They're targeting the people that they want to shoot because they have a dispute with them," he said. As such the odds of the average city resident being shot are incredibly low.
 |
Community Policing Aide Mark Sanders talks to the crowd
at tonight's meeting in City Hall. Sanders said the city does
not have a gang problem.
|
One of the meeting's attendees said she'd heard of a gang called "RNO" working the city.
Sanders said he's familiar with "RNO," but referring to them as a gang would be a misnomer. "We don't have a gang problem. We have a problem with misguided young people. ... We've been looking for (gang activity). I've been looking for it."
Maria Updegraph, who said she lives in the "Impact Zone" — a high-crime area being targeted by LPD between Walnut and High, Transit and Erie streets — asked Eggert why the department didn't patrol on foot any more.
"We need you guys to be physically there," she said. "No one's going to care if you guys are in the car. They're not scared."
She also suggested starting a Neighborhood Watch group in the area.
Eggert liked both ideas and noted that he was in charge of the Neighborhood Watch program in the 1990s when there were as many as 20 such groups in the city.
"Once the criminals see that ... they're going to go someplace else," Eggert said.
One woman told Eggert that she felt calling LPD was pointless, saying that a couple years ago she called to report a crime and was told that the police department didn't service her neighborhood anymore because "there's too much going on there."
Eggert was skeptical about the incident, inviting the woman to call him personally with a date when the alleged phone call occurred so he could get to the bottom of it.
"If that officer did tell you that, they're going to be suspended," Eggert said. "That'll be the end of their career."
Former Police Board President James Gugliuzza concurred with Pitrello's assessment.
Also in attendance were Mayor Anne McCaffrey and members of the Common Council including Joe Kibler, Pat Schrader, John Lombardi. City Building Inspector Jason Dool was also on hand.
Monday, June 2, 2014
 |
| Lockport Police officers talk with cruise-goers during the weekly Monday Night Cruise at Ida Fritz Park. Tonight was Law Enforcement Night. (ENP STAFF PHOTOS) |
LPD attends Law Enforcement Night at Monday Night Cruise
ENP STAFF REPORTS
news@eastniagarapost.com
 |
Lockport Police Chief Larry Eggert talks
with Alderman-at-Large Joe Kibler during
Law Enforcement Night at the Monday
Night Cruise.
|
Police Chief Larry Eggert was in attendance, taking time out to talk to cruise-goers who stopped at the eastern end of the park to say "hi."
Also in attendance from LPD were Captain Anthony Palumbo, Officer Dennis Sobieraski and Community Policing Aid Mark Sanders. About 10 members of the Niagara County Auxiliary Police were also on hand — although they're there every week helping to keep the peace.
LPD equipment ranged from an official department mountain bike to a motorcycle, Corvette and K-9 SUV unit. The department also had weapons on display and readily answered questions from community members, who were eager to ask questions of the officers present.
Next week is 50s night at the car cruise, running from 6-9 p.m. as it does every week during the summer.
For the full cruise schedule, check the Monday Night Car Cruise web site.
 |
| With sunny skies and temperatures hovering around 80, it's no wonder the ice cream line was so long. |
 |
| Retiring K-9 Officer Steve Ritchie shakes hands with Lockport Police Department Traffic Captain Mike Niethe, the first in a long line of officers to congratulate Ritchie on his retirement. (PHOTOS BY HEATHER N. GRIMMER / CONTRIBUTOR) |
ENP STAFF REPORTS
news@eastniagarapost.com
 |
Retiring K-9 Officer Steve Ritchie looks over the crowd of well wishers while
holding a card he was given during his sendoff this afternoon.
|
Ritchie, who was nearly killed in the line of duty 11 years ago had an abundance of well wishes this afternoon as he walked out of City Hall at 3 p.m., officially retiring from the force.
On Feb. 9, 2003, Ritchie was hit with multiple gunshots while attempting to make an arrest of an attempted murder suspect in a Town of Lockport trailer park. He was revived in the hospital several times that evening and suffered severe paralysis due to his injuries. It was thought he might never walk again.
Not one to take the easy way out of anything, however, Ritchie refused to retire, instead battling through a long and grueling rehabilitation process, returning to full duty with LPD in June of 2004.
Seeing him off — and coordinating this afternoon's sendoff — was Lockport Police Chief Larry Eggert, who was also badly wounded that Sunday morning when the shooter, Jason Kanalley, shot him in the back. Helping Eggert to see him off were officers from LPD, the Niagara County Sheriff's Office, the Amherst Police Department, Lewiston Police Department and Lockport firefighters. Many K-9 units were in attendance, a nod to Ritchie's years as K-9 officer.
 |
Lockport Mayor Anne McCaffrey wishes Ritchie well while
Alderman Pat Schrader and Police Board Chief James
Gugliuzza look on.
|
Unable to attend Ritchie's sendoff due to a prior commitment, Niagara County Sheriff Jim Voutour instead sent dogs — and kind words.
"We will miss Steve, a true law enforcement hero," Voutour said in an email. It would seem that Voutour is far from alone in his assessment.
 |
| Ritchie shook hands or offered hugs to everyone there to see him off, including this little tot. |
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
 |
| Lockport police and fire departments attend to the driver of a vehicle after an accident on Church Street this afternoon. (PHOTOS BY STEPHEN M. WALLACE / CONTRIBUTOR) |
ENP STAFF REPORTS
news@eastniagarapost.com
 |
These two vehicles were struck by a
van on Church Street this afternoon.
|
Witnesses say the car was southbound on Church Street near Grand Street when it struck two legally parked vehicles on the west side of the street before veering across the roadway and striking a tree on the east side of the street.
The driver was treated on-scene by the Lockport Fire Department and taken by personal vehicle to Eastern Niagara Hospital-Lockport, according to LPD. No one was in either of the parked cars at the time of the accident.
 |
| Lockport Police Chief Larry Eggert, in white, discusses with his officers the details of an accident on Church Street this afternoon. |
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Wednesday, May 14, 2014
ENP STAFF REPORTS
news@eastniagarapost.com
LEWISTON — Lockport Police Chief Larry Eggert will give the keynote address at a National Police Week memorial service at 7 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 400 Ridge St.
The interfaith memorial service will honor the memories of fallen law enforcement officials in a special service as part of National Police Week, which runs through Saturday. The service will feature the reading of the Roll of Honor — the names of officers killed in the line of duty — and a presentation of memorial wreaths by representatives from participating law enforcement agencies.
Agency honor guard members will join area musicians in rendering a rifle salute and "taps" to the memories of those honored.
Immediately following the service, a reception will be provided by the Niagara Falls Block Club Council in the St. Paul's Church fellowship hall.
Click here for all the details.
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