Saratoga bottles its famous water and ships it all over the world. If there were anything here in Albany that I'd like to bottle and send everywhere, it would be the remarkable level of effectiveness and public satisfaction the Albany Police Department has achieved in recent years ("Numbers, neighborhoods and beats," Jan. 6).
This state of affairs came about as the result of unprecedented community involvement in a variety of efforts to articulate the expectations of the people of our neighborhoods on issues such as gun violence and the selection of a police chief.
I would challenge Gov. Andrew Cuomo to look out his second-floor window and behold what is going on in the streets and neighborhoods of Albany. The state has little priority for encouraging the philosophy of community policing. Its signature program since the Pataki administration has been Operation IMPACT, which is nothing but statistics and technology.
To provide public safety service that truly responds to the needs and concerns of the people and improves the quality of life in our neighborhoods, the governor and his Division of Criminal Justice Services have to make community policing as big a priority as Operation IMPACT. I would urge the governor to ensure that his budget proposal next week gives DCJS such a mandate.
TERRY O'NEILL
Albany