The Associated Press
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) - Uniformed state troopers will begin patrolling the streets of Syracuse to help local police crack down on crime.
Syracuse becomes the seventh city statewide to form a partnership with state police under Operation IMPACT - or Integrated Municipal Police Anti-Crime Teams - a program started by Gov. George Pataki to assist the 15 counties in New York hardest hit by violent crime.
The $4.3 million program offers state police assistance to local communities wanting the help. The program was launched in Rochester in April. Since then, Niagara Falls, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Albany and Binghamton, have started IMPACT operations.
Pataki was in Syracuse Thursday to announce the city’s participation in the program. The governor’s visit came just hours after one man was killed and another wounded in an overnight shooting in one of the city’s troubled neighborhoods.
Operation IMPACT began in Syracuse earlier this summer with state police assisting in undercover operations but had not included uniformed troopers because many were busy with the Republican National Convention in New York City and the New York State Fair.
The program provides $343,000 for additional uniformed state police to patrol city streets, with a focus on traffic safety, said city police Inspector Michael Kerwin.
Using raids, stings and highly visible road checkpoints in high-crime neighborhoods, the teams have already produced more than 100 arrests and hundreds of traffic tickets, and have confiscated drugs and guns, said Onondaga County First Chief Assistant District Attorney Rick Trunfio, who is coordinating the local Operation IMPACT program.