CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. — "Today, it's a different story," said Cheektowaga Police Chief Brian Gould, when addressing members of the Erie County Legislature on Thursday regarding migrants bused from New York City and now staying at hotels in the town.
Gould said the situation has vastly improved since the first of what would eventually be several hundred migrants began arriving in June.
"The only notification we received was the first bus of 50 people, after that we did not get any notification ... and quickly we were up to 500 spread across three hotels," said Gould, who said there "absolutely" should have been better transparency and communication regarding the arrivals.
In the time since there have been property crimes, thefts, and sexual assaults associated with a small number of migrants.
Responding to those crimes presented challenges for officers.
"Especially involving investigations," said Gould. "There are so many different languages being spoken."
The language barrier wasn't the only one encountered by police.
"Very inexperienced people were running the operation and they were not cooperating very well with us," Gould said. "And the security company that was providing security at the hotel was less than cooperative with us as well."
However, according to Gould, changes made in recent weeks have served to improve the situation.
"DocGo has hired a local professional to be the operations manager here in town and he has been very receptive," Gould said. "When concerns arise, he wants to know immediately and he seeks to address them as soon as possible. The security company has been replaced after the New York State Department of State found out they had been employing unlicensed guards who were not following regulations, and the new security company has been very responsive as well."
Moreover, according to Gould, "our calls for service have significantly decreased involving the asylum seekers."
Gould said relations have also improved with members of the National Guard, who he said seemed at times "uncooperative" with police coming to the hotels.
He recalled one instance where he entered one hotel only to be confronted by guardsman.
"I was questioned as to what's my name, what's my badge number, what's my car number, and what's my purpose for being in the building?" Gould said. "Which is something I was taken aback by."
Gould says there are now open communication lines between police and guard commanders to the point where "that's not happening anymore."
Climbing costs
Many of the questions from lawmakers at Thursday's informational meeting centered on the additional costs being born locally, and not being picked up by New York City, which purportedly continues to pay for the housing and feeding of the 500 people the city sent here.
"So far we've documented $6,200 in overtime, Gould said, plus an additional few thousand dollars on associated court costs and the hiring of interpreters.
"Our lawyers don't bill by the hour," said Erie County District Attorney John Flynn, who told legislators it would be hard to estimate the costs to his office to prosecute those who've been arrested for various crimes, although he didn't think it would be significant.
Flynn reported that his office has prosecuted 12 of the migrants, three for felonies including sexual assault, with the other nine facing less serious charges such as for shoplifting.
The most significant costs discussed with lawmakers were those relayed by Maryvale School Superintendent Joseph D'Angelo, whose district suddenly found itself with 77 additional students just weeks before classes began.
He spoke of the need for additional resources to foster the education of the migrant children, most of whom need special services for a variety of reasons, the least of which is because for them English is a new language.
He noted the response thus far from Gov. Kathy Hochul has been mostly to point out that the district received additional state aid from this year's budget.
However, most of that additional aid had already been programed to be spent on school operations and not for the sudden and totally unanticipated costs of educating these newcomers, which is adding up.
"And to date, if nothing changes, we're over $400,000 in direct costs related to asylum seekers," D'Angelo said.