BUFFALO, N.Y. — We're wishing a happy retirement to a member of the Buffalo Police Department who has been well known in the community for a long time.
Capt. Steve Nichols, who leads the department's community policing programs, left the force last week after 23 years as an officer.
He's well known around Buffalo and he says he's going to miss most the partnerships he built with refugee and immigrant communities.
"We all come from somewhere," Nichols said. "There are very few people in this country other than the indigenous people — the native people that are from this country. And, you know, the opportunity to make life a little bit easier for some people, to come here from another place and not speak the language — and I think about how hard it must be to go to somewhere where you don't know anybody, you don't speak the language."
He went on to say that he's very proud of the relationships the police department has been able to build with the refugee and immigrant community in the City of Buffalo.
Nichols plans to keep working in the community in his retirement.