TROY – Shots fired in the city in the first nine months of 2020 are more than twice what they were for all of 2019. The number of homicides have soared, residents wounded in shootings are up and the city faces an increasing feeling of danger, the seven City Council members heard Tuesday night.
“The most pressing topic at hand is the increase in violent crime,” Chief Brian Owens told the council Public Safety Committee, which all council members attended.
The police department is dealing with this along with demands for increased accountability and transparency as a result of the Black Lives Matter movement across the country and the local Troy 4 Black Lives group in the city.
The city is days away from approving contracts for upgraded street surveillance cameras and body cameras that police officers will wear. The surveillance cameras are expected to aid in the investigations of violent crimes and other offenses, while the body cameras are expected to provide real-time recordings of police officers at crime scenes and interacting with the public.
The city also will see the return of a reconstituted Police Objective Review Board in mid-October, the first time the oversight organization has functioned in more than five years, Mayor Patrick Madden said.
Installation of improved surveillance cameras to replace the malfunctioning camera system currently in place and the use of body cameras have been discussed for years. After years of delays, the city is preparing to approve contracts of $95,823 with Eclipse Network Solution to install 120 street cameras and of $119,717 with Axon Enterprises, Inc., for the body cameras.
The violent crimes and protests in the city have put attention on the police department. The last time the Public Safety Committee met was Feb. 12 when the discussion was about idling vehicles, according to the committee meeting minutes.
“There’s been 59 shots-fired incidents this year, more than double of last year,” Owens said.
The city’s toll also includes 13 homicides and 22 shooting in which 29 people were shot, Owens told the council members.
The police department is on pace to exceed its $1.15 million overtime budget, Owens said. The department has spent $998,000 in overtime - 86.7 percent of the annual overtime budget - investigating homicides and other crimes and providing security at demonstrations.
Council members pushed for dealing with the violence and transparency for police operations, including use-of-force policies and filing complaints with the department.
"danger" - Google News
September 30, 2020 at 06:15PM
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In Troy, a growing feeling of danger - Times Union
"danger" - Google News
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