TJ Kennedy & THE TREES vs. TPD PBA

Date: Wed, Jul 10, 2019
Subject: Recent discrediting of tree inventory by PBA president


Dear Council person Kennedy,


Thank you for your email this morning. There are several issues with the content of it and also you ask several questions which I plan to answer in this email unlike your counterpart Council person Bissember declined to do for my recent email to him in regards to his proposed FACT Act.



You state that the trees make police officers safer but in my almost 10 years as a police officer here in Troy, I’ve never had a tree back me up on a call or help block traffic on Hoosick St. during rush hour or help set up a perimeter for a barricaded subject or assist me in a foot pursuit. I have however seen drug dealers and gang members use trees as cover and concealment to deal drugs in the open air. Just recently we had to have several trees removed in a certain area of the city so we could combat the open air drug market because these individuals were using the trees to hide behind.



You also state that crime is down. What stats do you have to back that claim up? As of July 9th 2019 violent crime is actually up in the city by 10%. This stat was provided by CRCAC yesterday and I am sure the Chief would facilitate a copy of this report to you and your fellow elected council people.



Also since 2013, the city has added over 1,031 new apartment units and more to come in 2019 and 2020 with the building of city station North commencing soon. The city has also added a new hotel of over 130 beds with the building of the Marriot hotel just north of the Hedley building. RPI has just begun a 3rd semester for their sophomore students which now will have students on campus year round. The city of Troy also is home to over 20,000 undergrad students from RPI, Russell Sage and HVCC. All signs of positive growth within our great city yet our police force has only increased from 130 officers to 131 and that extra officer is now assigned to the body camera program which the Chief and I hope to roll out ASAP and are hoping the Mayor’s office responds to the PBA’s request (letter dated March 18th 2019 can be made available to all of you upon request) of setting up negotiations for implementing the BWC.



You also state that I have a negative portrayal of this department. I’d like specific examples to back up this erroneous claim. My members, retired members, and even the chiefs will tell you that I am TPD’s biggest cheerleader. I have met with several potential laterals from other departments in hopes of attracting them to this great department. On my own dime I have taken these officers out for coffee, breakfast or lunch and tried to sell them on the positives of TPD. Fortunately, for these potential candidates I am not a politician and I don’t side step questions and I tell them the truth to questions they ask. When they ask if we have a valid contract I tell them we do not and that we are currently in mediation. No one will leave a current place of employment they know for a new place of employment they don’t know with the potential of benefits and or salary being changed. As of today I was able to help in the hiring two laterals Edwin Gerrana and Ed Thompson to our ranks of TPD. I’m sure if you ask those two officers they would tell you I speak highly of TPD and I gave them the truth about coming here. Something you and your colleagues should try on for size for once.





You also state, “I believe investing in more trees and vegetation in strategic (high crime) areas can serve as better crime prevention than any other measure (especially long term).” I now know one of the reasons the democratic party declined to endorse you as a candidate for district 6. To make a claim that planting any type of vegetation serves as better crime prevention than any other measure  is just asinine. No criminal justice expert would even take that comment serious. I won’t even continue to waste my time and effort ripping that comment apart.



The Baltimore study you refer to was a practice done by the city of Baltimore that tore down vacant buildings that harbored illegal activity like drug sales, drug usage etc. and planted trees on the vacant lots. The trees didn’t reduce the crime, the tearing down of buildings did.





You’ve asked me in the past if my members share the same view point as me and I have told you several times that is one of the reasons I was elected to my position. But to further validate my statement that my members share the same view point as I do, I have forwarded your email to all PBA members. As I am writing this to you I am getting numerous responses from the officers who put their lives on the line every day to make this city safer for all to enjoy. If you’d like to see what they have said I would gladly meet with you in private. I think you have embarrassed yourself enough with this email to your colleagues.



God Bless,



Nicholas Laviano

Troy PBA President



From: Timothy.Kennedy
Sent: Wednesday, July 10, 2019 10:04 AM
To: Brian.Owens
Cc: Nick.Laviano; Patrick.Madden; All City Council Members
Subject: Recent discrediting of tree inventory by PBA president



Chief,



Based on PBA President’s recent denigration of urban trees and downplay of their importance, I would ask that you share the following information with your department. It is unfortunate and unfair that the Troy PD and the public are being provided disinformation by the PBA President.



The profound impact of urban trees not only make the City safer, but they make the police officers safer as well. The PBA President continues to incorrectly infer that “counting police vacancies” is more important than “counting trees” (regarding tree inventory), but prominent studies on each aspect found that to increase both trees and police force equates to roughly the same correlation in crime reduction.



I believe it would be the PBA President’s responsibility to formally provide information on data and statistics relating to crime and personnel in the City if he is trying to make a legitimate argument for expanding the police force. The Council has not been formally apprised of staffing issues to date. I noticed that the Troy PD recently added several new officers, but the PBA President still complains about vacancies, which is confusing. The PBA President states that the City needs to expand the police force, but there has not been any analytical information provided to back up his baseless claim, and there’s no financial report to help determine costs or funding. It is possible that the negative portrayal of the City and the Department by the PBA President contributes to reasoning why he states people don’t want to become a police officer for Troy PD. My understanding that crime is decreasing in Troy, so I don’t understand why the size of the department need to increase. If the increase in population creates a need, then we’re only looking at roughly 2% or 3 additional officers.



Additionally, the City’s tree inventory is based on a state grant and utilizes state resources. I believe investing in more trees and vegetation in strategic (high crime) areas can serve as better crime prevention than any other measure (especially long term).



Planting trees in neighborhoods has many positive effects, which includes better air quality and crime reduction! Increasing green space can drive down crime by more than 200 felonies per year in a single urban neighborhood, according to a study on New York Restoration Project transforming NYC derelict lots to improve public safety.

Source link: https://www.nyrp.org/about/who-we-are/in-the-news/media/a-greener-new-york-is-a-safer-new-york/



Another recent study which analyzed crime map data and urban tree/vegetation growth in Baltimore, a 10 percent increase in trees equated to 12 percent decrease in crime. “It’s really pretty striking how strong this relationship is,” says Austin Troy, director of the University of Vermont’s Transportation Research Center and lead author of the study, published in June 2012.

Source link: https://www.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/pubs/40701



There is a Princeton University Study published 2018 “More COPS, Less Crime” examined 4,200  US cities to find that increases in police of about 3.2% correlates with decline in victimization cost-weighted crime of about 3.5% following the distribution of COPS hiring grants.

Increased federal funding $1B for COPS (community oriented policing services) under Obama

shows statistically significant effects of police on robbery, larceny, and auto theft, with suggestive evidence that police reduce murders. The increase does not extend to arrest rate, which means the underlying factor is deterrence.

Source link: http://www.princeton.edu/~smello/papers/cops.pdf



Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.



——————

TJ Kennedy

Councilman, 6th District

City of Troy, NY

518-429-0489