Board Voted to Move the Buffalo Police Headquarters Clear Out to the Municipal Airport

In what may prove to have been a hasty move Wednesday night the board voted to move the Buffalo Police Headquarters clear out to the Municipal Airport. In order to provide a secure work environment at city hall the board passed a motion to move the Buffalo Police Department to the Municipal Airport north of Buffalo. Evidently this action was taken without any involvement or knowledge by its very own Airport Board. So after all of the hard work to get the Town of Buffalo’s police department restarted they immediately cast it out of the city limits. Granted, it is city property and it is a city owned building. So,they do have that right bestowed within themselves to do this if they so choose to, BY GOSH! With no opportunity for input from the Airport Board and little opportunity from citizens concerned about their safety with the police department residing out of the city limits we have been NIKE’d. They “just did it”.

With the new clinic being put in city hall there evidently is no other alternative to provide a separate police wing. The separate area is needed so that the staff at city hall can work comfortable without potential concerns of criminals being brought through their halls for interrogation. There are times when suspects need to be separated during interrogations and placing them in an occupied office poses a risk.

Shortsightedness and selfishness still exists with our City government. When they were making the decision to remodel for the clinic they were also bringing back the Police Department. Why didn’t the staff and board raise these concerns then? Would that have jeopardized the clinic implementation? Is there so much focus on the clinic that they failed to realize their very own needs. So a knee jerk, selfish move is to grab another location that they happen to own and use it without any consultation with those involved. (Airport Board and citizens that may be concerned about a police department that doesn’t reside in the community)

They further distanced themselves from any consideration that citizens may have, (about the police chief and/or officers being stationed out at the airport), by reacting without considering other alternatives. Their predicament is a result of bending over backwards to accommodate the new doctor and the new clinic. Is there a better solution to this problem than to permanently place the Town of Buffalo’s Police Headquarters out at the Municipal Airport? Isn’t there some place within Buffalo that can be used for the police headquarters?

In other news the City Manager brought about an official complaint which was levied against one of the town’s reserve officers. Evidently Joe has visual radar and deemed the reserve officer drives to fast. He formally reported the fast driving allegations to the new police chief causing an official permanent document to be filed against the officer. Coincidentally, this is the same reserve officer that backed into the new city police vehicle with his own personal vehicle thus causing minor damage to the new cop vehicle. It should be noted that the reserve officer made the necessary arrangements to have his personal insurance cover all of the expenses of the needed repairs. Well, at least he is paying for his mistakes.