WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — Since the COVID-19 pandemic, crime rates in Buffalo have been dropping, and those in Washington are taking notice.
Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia was invited to the White House Wednesday alongside seven other police commissioners from cities across the nation to discuss decreases in crime, and the tactics their respective departments are using to keep communities safe.
“The law enforcement and community leaders here today have helped bring down violent crime rates in their cities had to historic lows,” President Joe Biden said.
Gramaglia was joined by commissioners from Detroit, Philadelphia, Miami, Charlotte, Milwaukee, and others to discuss what’s working in their respective cities.
Since 2019, violent crime rates in the City of Buffalo are down 20.8% thanks to the department’s micro-violent hotspot crime reduction plan launched in March 2022.
The plan divides the city into a 500x500-foot grid and stations officers where an analytics team tells them crime might take place.
However, it’s more than just addressing hotspots.
“We get our officers into those grids for 10 or 15 minutes at a time in different times where they activate their flashers and get out of the car and network, engage and talk with the people,” Gramaglia said.
For Gramaglia and Buffalo Police, it’s about building trust — a sentiment shared by all the other commissioners in Washington Wednesday.
“If the community trusts the police department, then they're going to come forward, and they're going to provide information to us because they know that we're going to do something about it,” Gramaglia said.