JAMESTOWN, NY
NEIGHBORS ON WATCH – This week, Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist held a press conference along with Director of Public Safety and Police Chief Tim Jackson and the Jamestown Human Rights Commission to announce a new public safety initiative called “Safer Jamestown N.O.W. (Neighbors on Watch)” which aims to continue investments into community-focused policing by giving the Jamestown community more resources to help keep their neighborhoods safer. This includes a renewed push to create and maintain neighborhood watches, partner with key community and faith-based groups to provide for more youth programs and violence interruption programs, and task the Jamestown Human Rights Commission and Jamestown Police Department to engage the community through meetings throughout the City to find neighborhood-based solutions to public safety issues.
The press conference included an overview of accomplishments the police department as done in investing in public safety. This includes the authorization to hire more officers resulting in Jamestown Police Department’s highest staffing level in decades. The creations of a Community Service Officer position focused on public outreach, a Quality-of-Life Officer focused on nuisance issues, and Violence Interruption Officers dedicated to combatting violent crime. To increase engagement with the community, JPD has brought back the Citizens Police Academy to allow residents and business owners to learn about policing in their community and to facilitate dialogue with residents. JPD has also done a record number of community-directed patrols and beat patrols across the city for increased public safety presence. This has resulted in record number of narcotics and illegally possessed firearms taken off the streets as well as a record amount of Gun Involved Violence Elimination (GIVE) grant funding, with nearly 3x the amount of funding than in previous years.
Safer Jamestown N.O.W. builds on these successes with a 5-point plan to increase neighborhood safety:
- Empower our community by dedicating additional resources to create & revitalize neighborhood watches, ensuring that our residents are not only protected by our police, but by our neighbors.
- Partner with faith-based organizations, community groups, and Jamestown Public Schools to provide violence interruption programs, mentoring, and employment programs for our kids.
- Secure additional funding for gun violence intervention programs, and create a diversion program focused on youth.
- Engage our Human Rights Commission to hold community meetings to help us develop more responsive City-wide programs.
- Invest in a City Public Information Officer to provide updates on initiatives, connect with community members about issues they are facing, and support our Police Department by using data to help inform city decision making regarding policing and community support operations.
Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist said, “One of my top priorities as Mayor has been to enhance the safety of Jamestown resident. Safer Jamestown N.O.W. builds on the incredible work that our police department has already done and build coalitions and strategies to continue to reduce violence in our neighborhoods. Our investments have driven violent crime lower, and by building additional pathways of trust between the community, and neighbors keeping their neighborhoods safer, we can build a model that makes all of Jamestown safer for our families.”
Jamestown Director of Public Safety and Police Chief Timothy Jackson said, “This initiative helps to highlight the work we already do at the Jamestown Police Department while giving us a clear path forward for continuing to engage with the Jamestown community. The best thing JPD can do is build trust within the community as it allows us to better solve crimes and get illegal narcotics and guns off the street and criminals behind bars. We hope that Safer Jamestown N.O.W. will allow us to build on the foundation we have already created. With additional GIVE funding we can do even more community patrols and more youth gun violence elimination program than ever.”