By Rick Pfeiffer/pfeifferr@gnnewspaper.com
Edward Haslip sat on the bench outside the Tops Market on Portage Road on Tuesday afternoon and watched the swirl of police activity in front of him.
“I don’t see nothing wrong with this,’ Haslip said. “It will make people feel better and I think it will stop a lot of crime.”
What had caught the attention of Haslip and lots of other shoppers in the Portage Road business district was the return of the Falls Police Department’s Safe Shopping Days program. Uniformed Falls cops, on bikes, walking beats and in unmarked patrol cars descended on the neighborhood in a effort to deal with what business people there call “nuisance crime.”
“I think it’s great,” Tops store manager Jeff Schalk said. “I guess (the Portage Road area) has the persona of a bad area, but this sort of presence is great.”
Haslip said people who live in the community want to know it’s safe to go to the stores there and shop.
“Some people are scared to be out with money in their pocket,” he said. “This will make them feel safer.”
Paul Fields, who works nearby, and says he has to shop in the area no matter what it may be like, was also pleased with the return of Safe Shopping Days.
“They (the police) are protecting the community,” Fields said. “They’re doing their job and this will help people.”
Safe Shopping Days was once a regular part of policing in the Falls, but had fallen victim to the budget ax. Now, with the department’s new community relations officer, the program is back on track.
“We want people to see our presence,” Police Capt. John DeMarco said. “They see that we’re out here and we’re trying to react to their needs.”
Schalk said the “crime” in the Portage Road area is largely panhandlers and vagrants, who make many customers who come to his store “a little uncomfortable.” Eliminating that problem would be a boon for his business.
“The way you expand your business is to get new people in here,” Schalk said. “If this makes people feel more comfortable and keeps ‘em coming back, that’s great. It makes this a more pleasant shopping area.”
DeMarco said he was pleased the pleasant spring weather on Tuesday made the day more productive.
“We had perfect weather and I think we had a lot of positive response from the public,” DeMarco said. “A lot of people came up and talked to us.”
Officer Scott Bax, a department rookie, said he was pleasant surprised by the reception police received.
“People were really happy to see us,” he said. “A lot of people don’t always like to see us, so this was nice.”
The positive public reception also pleased Community Relations Officer Shawn Bosi, who helped spearhead the return of Safe Shopping Days.
“It’s very important to have people talking to us,” Bosi said. “It helps us to build relationships and build trust. This is what we mean when we talk about getting back on the beat and getting into the community.”
In addition to the police presence, employees of the city’s Department of Inspections were also in the area to assist residents there.
“A lot of times people come up to us with a concern that is not law enforcement related,” DeMarco said. “So it helps to have other (city) departments out here with us.”
Safe Shopping Days will move to the City Market today and then to the 7200 block of Niagara Falls Boulevard on Thursday. Philip Badkin, the president of the Pine Avenue Business Association, said merchants there were looking forward to the program’s return.
“When they did (Safe Shopping Days) when I was young, it was more to assist senior citizens,” Badkin said. “Now it’s more to address crime.”
Like Portage Road, Badkin said the problems on Pine Avenue are more perception, coupled with panhandlers and other nuisance crimes.
“We’re excited to see it at City Market,” he said. “It makes people excited to see (the police) out there. We haven’t had any major problems, but this creates a nice safe atmosphere. I hope the business districts will take this program and grow it into more patronage for their businesses.”
DeMarco said if this three day program proves successful, it will be repeated.
Contact reporter Rick Pfeiffer at 282-2311, ext. 2252.
