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Canfield police plan neighborhood patrols
By ROBERT CONNELLY
CANFIELD
City police officers will start conducting patrols through neighborhoods at various times on various days in an attempt to prevent break-ins.
City council unanimously approved funding the neighborhood-patrol program at its June 18 meeting.
The program’s funding is through the federal Justice Assistance Grant and is worth $6,666. The city’s local share is $666. The grant pays for the overtime hours of officers going on the patrols throughout the city.
Mayor Bernie Kosar Sr., who was an auxiliary officer with Canfield police for 81/2 years, said, “Especially around the holidays, two of us auxiliaries would go out and just be seen in the community from that Thanksgiving to Christmas period. ... We thought that was an excellent program.”
He added, “It looks to me like this is just an extension or an enhancement or betterment of an already good program, and in police work ... you always want to patrol at random. You don’t want to be predictable.”
“It’s actually the first time we’ve ever received a grant for neighborhood-specific patrol,” said police Chief Chuck Colucci. “Overall, the last four or five years there has been a rise in property crime, and a lot of it is attributed to the rise in drug addiction.”
Colucci also said this will free up officers from normal day-to-day duties.
“Another important part is giving the normal routine patrol officers the ability to focus on taking calls, proactive policing, traffic enforcement, and this just gives us the opportunity to focus solely on neighborhood patrols,” he said.
The police department also received another federal Justice Assistance Grant for ballistic shields, which are used by officers to protect themselves in active-shooter scenarios.
Colucci said those haven’t arrived, but through the grant and city council budgeting four shields for the department this year, every patrol car will have a shield.
Those shields are worth $5,200, with the city paying $1,300 of the cost.