BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Police Department confirms that 17 of its officers have tested positive for COVID-19, with 25 now out on quarantine for possible exposure. Meanwhile, police in the city and elsewhere are having to change some of their protocols in policing the public.
Officers in Buffalo still respond to calls, but their interaction with complainants differs now amid the virus outbreak compared to traditional protocols, especially in regard to low priority calls.
"More than likely you can expect the officer will call you on the phone," said Buffalo Police Captain Jeff Rinaldo. "They'll ask you to step outside your house, and you will see very good social distancing taking place on those calls."
However, in situation that still warrant, police will not hesitate to engage in physical contact with perpetrators of crimes as they always have.
"That is sometimes what's involved in police work. It has to continue and it will," Rinaldo said.
Meanwhile, detectives are still responding to crime scenes, but are also doing as much of their work as they can away from police headquarters.
"We've taken advantage of the ability to utilize iPads and other devices to be more mobile and able to respond out in the field without having to necessarily get to your desk to file a report."
Police recruits, currently on hiatus from their training, are out in the parks other places breaking up social gatherings
"They might remind groups of people of the social distancing protocols," said Rinaldo. "We're not looking to criminalize anyone through this crisis and I don't think you'll see us arresting people for failing to socially distance appropriately."
Rinaldo added that he has heard of no incident where groups asked by police to separate have refused to do so.
And, if there is a silver lining all this, it seems that since things the outbreak began crime is down.
"It is," confirmed Rinaldo. "Our average calls for service, which used to average between 800 to 900 calls a day, is averaging around 500 to 550 calls a day. Crime tends to follow commerce and therefore, with commerce down and more people isolating the crime numbers are down as well."