Troy Adds to its Finest

Today the Troy Police Department will hire 3 new officers. One woman and Two men will be sworn in and begin their training at the police academy on Wednesday. For the residents of Troy this is great news. With the new hires the police force is at full staffing, 127 officers. Police Chief Kaiser spoke at our neighborhood meeting last Tuesday evening and stated that the department hasn't seen staffing levels this high since the early 80's. Crime has been down over recent years, the statistics show that. The existing police force has done a great job adapting and adjusting to the social changes in Troy. However, when you look at statistics from over the past ten years there has been an 8.5% increase in calls for service (approx 47,000 in 1999, approx 51,000 in 2009) and an 11.4% increase in arrests made (approx 3,500 in 1999, approx 3,900 in 2009).

To continue to make Troy a safer city adding new recruits is vital. The population of Troy has decreased in that same 10 year period (1999-2009) yet calls for service are up, but overall crime is down due in-part to highly effective policing. Adding to the force will ensure the service we receive will be that much better. We've seen the addition and expansion of several units within the Police Department over the past several years. In my opinion the Community Services Bureau is one of the most crucial. The Officers within the unit are charged with the ideology that partnering with members of the community will reduce crime and improve the quality-of-life within the neighborhoods. Yes this sounds like common sense, but in general there has always been a form of friction between police and the public, I don't know why maybe its the "authority thing." The Troy Police have been very successful in creating strong bonds within the community. Every neighborhood association in the City is assigned a Community Police Officer, his roll is to work with the groups members, SOS, the Street Crimes Unit, code enforcement, DPW, etc to ensure quality-of -life issues are identified, addressed, and corrected. Learn about the CSB by clicking here.

There's no doubt in my mind that we have the best police department in Upstate NY. The department chief's have been allowed to do what is necessary to do their job and do it correctly. Unlike other local municipalities, we've kept city politics out of the way of doing what's necessary in protecting the residents of Our Town...