Public Housing And Crime

Imagine if anyone in Norwalk had this crime “platform” attributed to them; “He also said the city’s approaches to crime-ridden clusters in recent years has played a role in keeping crime down …. , citing the demolition of the … housing project and its redevelopment into … as factors in … ‘s perception as city without a serious crime problem.”

And what city is represented by the judicious use of elipses in the phrase above? Stamford. And who is being it being attributed to? Democratic candidate for mayor, David Martin.

Here’s the revealing grafs:

Democratic mayoral candidate David Martin, the president of the Board of Representatives, said the challenge facing the incoming administration and its Police Department is the threat of falling behind the curve when it comes to crime.

He recommends rebuilding the police force from its current level of 286 officers — which doesn’t including its three chiefs — to 305 officers over two or three years. He also said the city’s approaches to crime-ridden clusters in recent years has played a role in keeping crime down in Stamford, citing the demolition of the Southfield Village housing project and its redevelopment into Southwood Square as factors in Stamford’s perception as city without a serious crime problem.

“Basically, because we’ve gotten ahead of the crime, the pressure to have as many officers is less because we’ve got the crime rate down,” Martin said. “You don’t want to reach a tipping point. You want to always stay ahead.”

Martin also used the low crime rate to take jabs at the Republican party, which held city hall before outgoing Mayor Dannel Malloy took office in 1995, when the crime rate began to drop. Before that, police officers recall criminals equipped with automatic weapons and the persistent sound of gunfire in the city’s rougher areas.

“If you look at the statistics, it lines up almost exactly when the Republicans move out of power and when the Democrats put a new way of approaching this,” Martin said. “There are other demographic factors that affect the whole nation, but in Stamford, that was the pivotal factor. We actually started doing community policing rather than just making speeches about it.”

In response to concerns over the Police Department’s use of overtime and lucrative extra-duty jobs — an item that was put into the police union contract under a Republican mayor decades ago, Martin pointed out — Martin said he wants to take a close look at the use of such programs because of debate they inspire.

“Part of the question is, can we find a more productive use of these police officers for that amount of time?” Martin said. “Can we find a more productive way to make use of our police resources?”

Martin said the relationship between the city and police union has improved dramatically since the days when officers once posted billboards around Stamford, calling it the “Wild West.” In that context, the recent round of contract negotiations that almost resulted in the layoff of 20 police officers, was tame. Contract talks usually went to arbitration, he said.

The thing is, there’s much to the similarity to Stamford and Norwalk in terms of crime. Martin is right, and the Advocate missed the mark in its report on crime statistics earlier in the month, Stamford and Norwalk enjoy a low crime quality of life. The issues that Martin raises, are exactly the same ones that should be discussed here in Norwalk, but we seem to be lacking a grasp of the facts in Norwalk, not just in the comments here, but by our political bodies at large. Why not cite the glaring and galling use of police officers for extra duty, privately paid, traffic work, when they seemingly manage merely to stand next to job sites neither directing traffic nor preventing traffic congestion.

In Stamford, (at least the Advocate manages to do the classic one issue, two stories each on the opposing candidates, journalism) the Republican candidate has this to say:

Mike Pavia, the Republican candidate for mayor, sees the police force as a core extension of city government, saying he would turn to church groups and nonprofit outreach organizations to help improve policing the city’s relatively isolated pockets of crime.

There should be no competition for funding among components of core government services — such as schools, fire protection and police — and Pavia said he would try to use that funding to staff the Police Department at appropriate levels and develop tactical units, such as SWAT teams and hostage negotiators. The department disbanded such teams years ago.

“Think about that,” Pavia said from his private office on Hope Street on Thursday. “It’s OK if you have a Home Depot in your downtown area. It’s a mundane kind of thing. But when you have RBS and UBS and major headquarters of global recognition, I think we’re very lucky and fortunate nothing has taken place.”

Finding the funding for such initiatives remains a challenge. Last month, the Police Department learned it did not get federal stimulus money to hire 30 more officers because its crime rates are too low and the city is not in dire enough financial straits compared with poorer cities. In the most recent hiring process, the department was given enough money to hire two officers. It will only get one new officer because a candidate recently dropped out, citing personal reasons, a Police Department spokesman said.

Police officials and its union have said they need more officers to reduce overtime spending and increase the number of officers on patrol. Some fear budget cuts threaten to reduce the department into a reactive force, and 20 officers were almost laid off from the department during the most recent round of contract negotiations.

“We don’t want to go through that,” Pavia said about the negotiations. “Hopefully with a new administration coming in, the bad feelings and concerns can get rebuilt so we won’t see the same contentiousness that we saw the last time.”

Pavia said the reason Stamford has low crime rates — it regularly reports fewer murders, violent crimes and property crimes than cities such as Bridgeport and Hartford, which are only slightly larger — is because of two factors. He used the low crime rates as a chance to laud the Police Department’s effectiveness.

“That reputation is well-known and regarded, and that has a positive effect in terms of crime control,” Pavia said. “The message is, you do something in Stamford, you better be prepared, because the Police Department has got its act together.”

Pavia also said Stamford’s close-knit residential neighborhoods — Belltown, Glenbrook and Springdale, among others — contributed to low crime rates. The small-town vibe creates a natural sense of deterrence among residents, he said.

Police, however, spend most of their time on the streets of Stamford’s other neighborhoods — the South End and West and East sides — and contend with an immigrant community of undocumented Latinos that police brass said are the most victimized population group in the city.

Pavia recommended the city turn to the local not-for-profit community outreach organizations or church groups to try and penetrate the community further.

“It’s a tough situation,” Pavia said. “And it’s tough on both sides. With a little bit better communication, some of that will be eased. There’s some great personalities in the Latino community that don’t only have the capability, but also the motivation, to help in these matters.”

One program he suggested involves setting up a program through a church or nonprofit that would organize the day-labor pickup spots along South State Street, giving order to what has become a “free-for-all,” he said.

Amazingly both Stamford candidates agree on what issues they should be addressing and present different ways to address them. back to Martin:

Standing in the way of hiring more officers and increasing community policing efforts is a lack of revenue coming into the city, Martin said. He would like to see officers attend meetings of various community organizations to collect concerns among residents. Martin also said the school resource officer program, which assigns certain officers a to city school, is a valuable resource that needs to be retained.

“The reality is we have to find revenue sources,” Martin said. “Our revenue sources got wiped out this year. The question is how fast will the revenue sources come back over time and if we can get state and federal grants.”

Martin said he would put more focus on traffic crimes in the city’s roadways and crack down on drunken and aggressive drivers. The challenge is finding the best way to allocate police resources to enforce traffic problems, he said.

“By aggressive drivers, I mean the people doing jack-rabbit starts, veering through lanes, doing illegal turns and running red lights,” Martin said.

Another area needing improvement is the day labor pick-up site on South State Street. Martin said city halls needs to clarify where the pickup zone begins and ends and must enforce its boundaries consistently.

Within the Police Department, Martin said he agrees with the police union over its dissatisfaction over its aging headquarters on Bedford and Hoyt streets. It was built for a smaller force, and now its deteriorating holding cells have become a liability for the city, Martin said. Whether an outright relocation of the police force or a renovation is needed demands a closer look, he said.

So let’s recap Stamford’s low crime perception– Stamford encourages development and wants large multinational corporations to locate there. Stamford eliminates public housing. Stamford looks for ways to increase revenues to support crime prevention programs. Stamford like Norwalk, failed to get federal funding for such programs.

And then there’s Norwalk.