BUFFALO (WBEN) - As India Walton prepares to take over as mayor of Buffalo in January following Tuesday night's upset over four-term incumbent Byron Brown, more attention is now being paid to her specific policy goals.
Walton ran on a transformative approach platform to public safety and policing, saying she wants to bring "accountability, transparency, and community-centered service to the Buffalo Police Department" and "emphasize harm reduction and restorative justice programs rather than punitive measures."
All of her policies can be viewed on her website, but below are her short and long-term goals as it relates to public safety:
Short-Term Policy Goals (First 100 Days):
-Remove police from responding to most mental health calls and work with County and BPD leaders to establish a new response to crisis mental health calls that utilizes mental health professionals.
-End enforcement of low-level drug possession by directing police not to arrest people for simple possession of a small amount of drugs and paraphernalia like syringes.
-Order the Law Department to conduct a full review of the city's ability to discipline and fire bad police officers, and to defend disciplinary decisions to the fullest possible extent.
-Make police data public to the extent allowed by law including data on racial disparities in stops and arrests, officer disciplinary records, the number of officers who live outside the city, and an inventory of weapons and military equipment owned by BPD.
Near-Term Policy Goals (6 Months to 1 Year):
-Work with the Buffalo Common Council to amend the city charter to establish an independent oversight body with investigatory and subpoena power.
-Train officers in trauma informed care and implicit bias.
-Increase the number of trained community-oriented officers.
-Mandate unpaid leave for police officers being investigated for police brutality.
-Establish a civilian Traffic Safety Division to enforce routine traffic safety laws and remove police from routine traffic enforcement.
-Create a task force to investigate every police officer and fire or demote officers with consistently bad records.
Long-Term Policy Goals (1 to 4 Years):
-Create unarmed public safety detail to address quality of life and social calls to 911, freeing trained police officers to focus on solving crime.
-Fund and expand proven public safety programs such as Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) and violence interruption programs like Advance Peace.
-Invest in crime prevention strategies such as youth employment programs like Mayor’s Summer Youth, and crime prevention through environmental design.
-Codify public participation in union contract negotiations to the extent allowed by law and ensure meaningful ongoing public input into all police department functions and union contract negotiations and cement this public right into the future by law.
Upon reviewing Walton's policy goals, Buffalo PBA President John Evans doesn't believe many of the policies are practical or attainable.
"A lot of what I see is not realistic," said Evans. "I think once she gets in, she's got to define some of these proposals."
For instance, Evans pointed to Walton's hope of changing the disciplinary process for police officers.
"That's all contractual, and it's nothing we're interested in negotiating," said Evans.
As for the proposal about decriminalizing low-level drug possession, Evans said that policy isn't specific enough (what kind of drugs, how much, etc.) and believes that would be a step in the wrong direction.
"Some of her other (proposals), her mental health proposal, where police officers won't go to mental health calls, I don't see that as realistic," he continued. "You're putting a lot of responsibilities on the dispatchers if that's who will have to determine if it's a police call or a mental health call. On top of that, with the mental health calls, they can often become violent; they're very unpredictable, and without police officers there to use force if necessary, that individual could be a great peril."
One of Walton's long-term goals in public safety reform is to "codify public participation in union contract negotiations to the extent allowed by law," but Evans said New York State law prevents civilians from joining in contract negotiations.
Evans noted that members of the Buffalo Police Department have raised concerns about Walton's policies, some even threatening retirement.
"We have had some say that, yes," said Evans on with Tom Bauerle Thursday afternoon.
WBEN reached out to Walton Wednesday and Thursday but was told she's not available for comment.