Been There, Done That

April 29th, 2008 News

I accidentally stumbled on this:

In the 1860s an Act of the State Legislature created the Niagara Frontier Police District, which encompassed Buffalo and Tonawanda in Erie County and Wheatfield in Niagara County.

Six to eight constables comprised the early membership of the Buffalo Police Department around the late 1830s. It was not until 1855 that the first police chief was appointed. Officers first received uniforms in the 1860s. During this period the State

Legislature created the Niagara Frontier Police District, which encompassed Buffalo and Tonawanda in Erie County and Wheatfield in Niagara County. This new organization included a board of commissioners, a superintendent, captains, detectives, and over one hundred patrolmen. In 1870 the district was divided and the City of Buffalo has been served by a single police district ever since.

So, when Giambra and other proponents of consolidation propose consolidation of police services, note that it had been done before, 140 years ago. The City’s own police department as it exists today was created in 1871 as the city’s population grew.

Ontario’s Niagara Regional Police District is the model.

del.icio.us Reddit Slashdot Digg Facebook Technorati Google StumbleUpon Yahoo Bloglines

RSS 2.0 Respond Trackback

4 Responses to “Been There, Done That”

  1.  

    Mike In WNY Says:
    April 29th, 2008 at 10:22 am

    Privatize police services, then the police will truly serve the people . . .or get fired. Decentralization leads to a less personal, less responsive police force.

  2.  

    Mike In WNY Says:
    April 29th, 2008 at 10:24 am

    Subsitute “centralization” for “decentralization” in my previous comment.

  3.  

    Denizen Says:
    April 29th, 2008 at 3:41 pm

    Privatize police services

    Uhh…yeah that’s called the MAFIA

  4.  

    Mike In WNY Says:
    April 29th, 2008 at 4:32 pm

    The MAFIA violates laws, the police are supposed to follow and enforce them. It seems to me the police parking enforcement blitz was extortion - MAFIA style. A private police force would never be able to get away with such reprehensible behavior.

Got something to say? Drop it here.

WNYM seeks to provide a forum for snarky opinions and open discussion. However, we do need to have some ground rules around this joint. In order to make our comments useful and interesting, the following guidelines have been established for comment users. In short; don't act like a libelous or hate-filled tool and we'll get along just fine.