Officer John Cirulli punched and kicked a handcuffed suspect.
Officer Corey Krug beat a man on Chippewa Street.
And just last week, Officer Joseph Hassett was arraigned on charges for the alleged assault of a suspect.
“Unfortunately we’ve seen a lot of high-profile deaths and damaging instances in this community,” said Max Anderson of Open Buffalo, a non-profit group focusing on social justice issues.
Buffalo Police are now taking a major step toward fixing that perception as they have begun the process of becoming accredited by the state.
Buffalo is one of the largest police forces in the state without that accreditation, even though the city charter requires it.
The department would join Amherst, Cheektowaga, West Seneca and others who are required to adopt uniform policies on more than 100 key issues -- something Open Buffalo called for in a report last year.
“With everything happening nationally, people have their eyes opened and people are so much more aware of these issues,” Anderson said. “They’re caught on camera, they’re in your social media feeds.”
But while Buffalo has had some high-profile incidents, a recent CNN analysis of officer-involved shootings showed Buffalo officers are among the least likely to draw their guns compared to other departments.
It’s one reason why Buffalo Police Capt. Jeff Rinaldo says the department is already on the right track.
“Is it going to drastically change the nature of policing in the City of Buffalo? Absolutely not,” Rinaldo said.
He added, “I think it’ll help us because eventually it will lay out a pretty good road map, a game plan on how you do everything from plan a major operation down to a minor policy on where you park your car.”
The accreditation, which was first reported by The Buffalo News, is expected to take two years to complete.
