Operation Impact III Community Strategies

Community Strategies

The community strategies component of the Albany IMPACT Consortium plan are all designed to improve the quantity, quality, and timeliness of information about criminals and weapons emanating from the community to law enforcement. The approach is to establish a physical presence in the IMPACT communities by opening street front satellite offices. Such offices have been shown to improve the flow of information to law enforcement simply by providing an open door through which the information can flow. Providing a series of activities with community residents coordinated by staff in these offices creates both pedestrian traffic and the personal relationships which can be invaluable to the gathering and evaluation of information about local criminal activity.

These offices will also be used as a home base for a variety of ongoing contacts with community leaders, neighborhood watch organizations, landlords and other interested parties. Expanding and institutionalizing the cooperative relationships between members of the community and members of the criminal justice system will significantly improve the information available to enforcement and will result in more effective law enforcement and prosecution. This, in turn, will result in creating a more hostile environment for gun offenders leading to a reduction in violent crime and shots fired.

Specific tasks of the Community Strategies Component include:

• Establishment and implementation of field offices within the IMPACT zones. Based in accessible storefront locations, the field offices will be the base of operations for a community prosecutor, community prosecution coordinator, Albany Police officer, and representatives of Albany County Probation and New York State Parole. They will also house a Community Accountability Board to recommend sentences for non-violent offenders resident in the community.

• These field groups will coordinate their efforts and improve the quality, timeliness, and quantity of information regarding on-going criminal activity that is received.
• By establishing, training, and equipping neighborhood watch groups and improved relationships with community members.
• By meeting regularly to share information.
• By conducting joint operations

• These field groups will also enlist the assistance of other agencies, such as the Albany Housing Authority, Albany City Buildings and Codes Department, Albany County Social Services, community members, landlords, and community leaders in order to eliminate the physical and economic infrastructure of criminal activity through:
• Crime Reduction through environmental design by identifying unsafe environmental features such as obstructions caused by overgrown trees, poor lighting, overgrown vacant lots, broken fences providing escape routes, accessible vacant buildings, etc. and enlisting the appropriate agencies, individuals and groups responsible to eliminate the problems.
• The Narcotics Eviction Program, in which civil eviction proceedings are initiated against individuals who have been identified as having provided assistance to criminals dealing drugs and/or accused of weapons offenses by allowing the use of their homes for such activities. Upon the service of a search warrant for drug sales at a residence or possessing an illegal weapon, the information and intelligence on the lease holder will be forwarded to the field office, and, where appropriate, such eviction proceedings will commence.
• The Trespass Affidavit Program. This coordinated and cooperative effort between the Albany County District Attorney’s office and the Albany Police Department involves enlisting property owners to sign affidavits indicating that individuals other than tenants and their visitors are not allowed in or on the owner’s property. Signage is placed conspicuously upon the building and violators are then arrested. This initiative will also be based within the field offices.
• The denial of social service benefits and/or subsidized housing to known criminals and their immediate associates.
• The teaming up with social service providers and housing inspectors to gather information about possible criminal violations especially gun possession.

• A central feature of the strategy to improve the relationship between the criminal justice system and the community is the development of the Community Accountability Boards. These Boards consist of a panel of community leaders selected by the DA’s Office which meets regularly to recommend sentences for those committing non-violent crimes within the IMPACT zone. These Boards divert such cases from the traditional criminal prosecution by recommending sentences of community service coupled with restitution and, where appropriate, academic achievement. Successful completion of the recommended sentences enables first time offenders to avoid the stigma of a criminal record. These Boards have three benefits.
• First they impose sentences upon perpetrators that are consistent with community standards;
• Second, they relieve the courts and prosecutors of the burden of prosecuting minor crimes thereby increasing the resources dedicated to the prosecution of violent and gun related crime;
• Third, and most importantly, they create a large group of community residents who are actively participating in the criminal justice system. These individuals have access to information about offenders in the community, especially younger individuals who may not be known to law enforcement, who are actively participating or are contemplating participating in gang activities and/or carrying illegal weapons. Establishing active ongoing relationships with these individuals significantly improves the flow of this information to law enforcement.

• Heightened supervision of probationers and parolees within the IMPACT zones and the gathering and dissemination of information on any criminal acts or violations of the conditional release will be coordinated from the field offices.

• Establishment of an “IMPACT GUNS HOT Line” offering a substantial cash award for information leading to the conviction on an illegal weapons charge to be utilized by members of the public who wish to report information on crimes anonymously.

• Coordination of after school programs such as the “Bring it to the Courts” basketball league which target specifically designated “at-risk” for resorting to gang activities. Activities will include athletic programs where participation is contingent upon participation in various academic programs. Training will also emphasize a “Consequences of Crime” curriculum designed to educate kids that there are serious consequences. Once possible topic would be a visit to the Morgue to view an autopsy of a gunshot victim.

• Supervision of the Council for Unity Anti-Gang Prevention program.