Police Chief Anthony J. Riello said state troopers currently assisting Pittsfield Police have been assigned to patrol access roads instead of high-crime neighborhoods because the expertise local officers have gathered from working in those areas makes them more effective for that task.
"We will not bring troopers into those neighborhoods where they do not know the players and they do not know the residents," Riello told the City Council on Tuesday night. "It just is not a good, positive ingredient. It really isn't."
Riello addressed the council in response to a petition filed by Ward 7 Councilor Anthony V. Maffuccio. The petition requested Riello ask state police "to aid us in our fight to take back our neighborhoods."
After Riello spoke, the council voted 8-2 to refer Maffuccio's petition to the Public Safety Committee for further review. Maffuccio and Councilor at large Pam Malumphy voted against the referral. Ward 3 Councilor Linda Tyer had temporarily left the room, and was not present when the vote was taken.
Councilor at large Matthew M. Kerwood asked Riello to submit a written report to the committee explaining how he planned to address the issues raised by Maffuccio.
Neighborhood patrols sought
Maffuccio has criticized the police presence in his neighborhood after 18-year-old Anthony Hopkins was stabbed to death May 30 in front of his home at 227 Robbins Ave., about a block from Maffuccio's residence. Hopkins' murder is one of four violent incidents in the city since May 5, although it is the only one to have occurred in Ward 7.
During last week's City Hall press conference to announce Operation Vice Grip, a major anticrime sweep that netted 59 people wanted on outstanding warrants, Maffuccio said he wanted to see state troopers in his ward, which includes some of the city's highest crime areas, instead of pulling over speeders on South Street.
On Tuesday, Maffuccio said he learned at the press conference that $50,000 in state funds that state Sen. Andrea F. Nuciforo Jr., D-Pittsfield, had obtained last September to pay for state police patrols on city streets was being used to patrol access roads into the city, not assist Pittsfield officers in high-crime areas.
"I'm asking my colleagues to send a clear message to the chief and ask him to utilize the state police money that Sen. Nuciforo set aside to start utilizing the state police in our neighborhoods, not on the outskirts," Maffuccio said.
"Ticketing may lead to finding a criminal," Maffuccio said. "But by having the state police in our neighborhoods we would be able to tackle the process better."
Maffuccio said that city police "are doing a good job" patrolling neighborhoods now, but that they are undermanned and need assistance.
Riello said the process of bringing troopers into Pittsfield began about a year ago and the $50,000 was intended to have state police provide "directed patrols," not assist city officers in fighting crime and violence in neighborhoods.
'Working very effectively'
When police put together a plan to fight crime, Riello said the department believed it would be better to have troopers stationed on the access roads, thereby freeing city officers to be stationed in neighborhoods where they are more familiar with the residents.
"It is working very effectively," Riello said.
Riello said state police officers assigned to those patrols contributed to Operation Vice Grip, a measure that involved multiple law enforcement agencies.
"We have heard from our informants in the last week that we totally disrupted the drug scene in Berkshire County because of the people that we had stopped" on roads leading into the city, Riello said.
Riello said the funding Nuciforo secured will run out in a couple of weeks.
"We're running three extra patrols a night," he said. "We'll evaluate them when the state police money goes away."
In reaction to the recent rash of violence in the city, Riello said police have put together a group of officers to focus exclusively on that issue.
Riello said that Pittsfield Police have formed task forces in the past to deal with increased spates of vandalism and burglaries, and that the approach has been successful.
They talk peanut butter and jelly, but get a lot of Fluff...
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