buffalo police

Buffalo Police brass are scheduled to be in front of the Common Council Community Development Committee Tuesday to talk about problems in the department.

The issue at Southside Elementary School Wednesday night was policing in Buffalo, particularly in South Buffalo, where many residents perceive the city is cutting back on police efforts to move officers to other communities while crime is becoming more of an issue in South Buffalo.

Big changes are in the works for the Buffalo Police Department and many of them were greeted with derision by the Common Council Tuesday.

Buffalo's Common Council slapped down the Brown administration Wednesday and refused immediate passage of a contract to provide body cameras for police officers. Members bounced the proposed contract to next Wednesday's Legislation Committee meeting.

It was Code Three for 17 young Buffalo residents Sunday evening. They arrived for their Christmas shopping at the Walmart on In Cheektowaga with lights and sirens.

With Buffalo Police to start wearing body cameras next month, there is a lot of public skepticism about the rules for using the cameras. That was apparent at a community meeting held at the Frank E. Merriweather Library Wednesday night.

Buffalo Police are now developing a draft of their policy for officers' use of body cameras. An advocate for open government is urging police officials to be open about the process and to let the public have a say. A police official tells WBFO the public will get a chance to hear more, while also assuring citizens that the system they're adopting will be responsible.

Anyone who watches crime shows on television, whether a reality show or fiction, knows officers put up that yellow crime tape and wait for the forensics people. That is changing, with the national surge of fatal drug overdoses a major reason. More and more police departments train officers to treat an overdose as a crime scene unless someone of rank decides otherwide.

Dontrell Wise faces spending the rest of his life in a federal prison because a jury on Thursday ruled the illegal drugs he sold led to a death.

The former federal courthouse in downtown Buffalo is again active, serving as the new home of both the Buffalo Police and Fire Departments. A dedication ceremony was held Thursday morning, beginning with the police department formally decommissioning its longtime home just a few blocks away.

A pair of devices found outside a Buffalo Police station early Friday morning were built to look like pipe bombs but later deemed non-functional by the Erie County Bomb Squad, said police officials who are now looking for the individual seen delivering them.

Buffalo Police conducting a narcotics investigation made an unexpected discovery: dozens of bicycles that investigators believe were stolen over the past several weeks or months. They're now beginning the laborious task of trying to reunite them with their rightful owners.

In the middle of the after-school rush yesterday of the traffic along Bailey Avenue, someone shot three people in front of a liquor store at Bailey and Berkshire. Police say it was a targeted shooting.

It's been a long time coming. Buffalo Police have been headquartered out of the same building at Franklin and Church streets since the 1930s. On Friday, their new HQ opens to officers and the public.

Leaders of several Buffalo-based churches invited representatives of law enforcement agencies and City Hall to a meeting, where it was discussed how to improve cooperation to address violent crime. Clergy say they previously planned the meeting but also invited government leaders to ask how the churches might help.

The fatal shooting of Rafael "Pito" Rivera, by a Buffalo Police Officer, last Wednesday, topped Tuesday's meeting of the Common Council's Police Oversight Committee.

The lawyer for Buffalo Police officer Elnur Karadzhaev says the evidence will show the officer defended himself and shot 32-year-old Rafael "Pito" Rivera within the law.

A 32-year-old Buffalo man was shot dead early Wednesday in an encounter with a two-year veteran of the Buffalo Police Department in the heart of the city's West Side. Friends and relatives later turned out for a vigil.