The Niagara Falls City Police Department is overly strained in patrolling the area immediately surrounding the new casino in what was formerly the Niagara Falls Convention Center, according to a Jan. 6 WIVB television report. The department is now out of money to pay the overtime salaries for its officers, who have been answering double the calls for service from last year at this time.
As police presence near the casino rises, the south end of Niagara Falls will be reduced to a one-officer beat, turning the NFPD, as WIVB puts it, from a proactive into a reactive force.
This page has continually spoken against the authorization of the Seneca Nation to open a casino in Western New York. Research then and now suggest the presence of a casino attracts crime, and the NFPD, as well as the residents of Niagara Falls, are now forced to confront that fact as reality. Already, twice the number of calls and a lack of police presence in other parts of the city can only mean a public safety disaster is in the making.
A reactive police force will have no crime prevention presence, a fact not lost on criminals. This is a direct result of the casino's gravitational-like pull in attracting crime, and thus police away from other areas, attracting further crime, a cycle that has only one end - the deterioration of civic infrastructure.
Because the Seneca Nation's casino is now sovereign land, the city, county and state have little to hold over casino management as far as leverage goes. They must instead appeal to the Senecas' bottom line.
Any business establishment worth its salt knows that it grows or suffers along with its neighborhood. The security of the casino must be top-notch, and perhaps even state trained. They must be granted at least limited jurisdiction to handle parking and public safety in areas immediately adjacent to casino grounds. If an area garners a reputation for poor law enforcement, or high crime, people will be much less likely to patronize any establishment in that area.
Add to the equation the fact that only a couple miles away lies another casino across the border in Ontario, which is in an established financial district, with no negative reputation as far as security goes, patrolled by properly trained law enforcement personnel. This stiff competition should compel the Senecas to pay extra attention to security.
If they do not wish to, or for some reason cannot, go through the process of properly training their own security, they ought to help finance the NFPD, who are well-trained, professional law enforcement officers. Increased, proactive police protection in Niagara Falls is good for Seneca business, and it is good for neighborhood security. Single-officer patrols in any section of the city is simply unacceptable, and the current financial plight of Western New York civil servants makes it all the more important that they be assisted, particularly as the influx in crime is a direct result of casino-related activity.
The Senecas are in business to make money, and no one is under the mistaken impression that they are involved in Niagara Falls for any other purpose than that. Hopefully, they will recognize the need to be both good neighbors, as Niagara Falls mayor Irene Elia intimated, as well as good for area businesses. They are partners in the future of the Western New York community and must take that role seriously. If they choose not to, they risk losing everything, and that is a rather poor bet to make.
Photo: Courtesy of SUNY
