Joint Council Commission, SPD discusses solutions to juvenile delinquency

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Members of the Syracuse Common Council Public Safety Committee met with representatives of the Syracuse Police Department on Monday to discuss recent instances of police interaction with civilians in the city.

The group focused on the video of an SPD officer physically restraining a child that has gone viral on social media over the past week, as well as a brief recap of the April 16 Armory Square shooting. .

SPD leader Joe Cecile was present alongside Sgt. Mark Rusin to answer questions from the Joint Councillors. Cecile defended the SPD’s response to the situation shown in the video, saying that while the interaction had “weak points” which the department is investigating, it was ultimately uplifting.

“It was a kid in the back seat of a patrol car crying his eyes out. And it was visceral,” Cecile said. “But the citizen-driven narrative that went viral was just one part of the story.”

At a Thursday press conference and Monday’s meeting, SPD officials said the child was not handcuffed and the father and children then had an “uplifting” conversation with officers.

The child’s father later told syracuse.com that he wanted to file a complaint about the incident after seeing the viral video.

Cecile was named SPD leader by Mayor Ben Walsh on Friday, after former leader Kenton Buckner cited personal reasons for resigning earlier in the day.

While Cécile was defensive of the officers involved, he stressed that large-scale action needed to be taken to limit the levels of crime the city has seen from minors.

“At this point, we need to move beyond defaming the officers, who did what any parent would want them to do…and work on a broader strategy that allows us an alternative response to incidents like this. here,” he said. “None of us want to deal with an 8-year-old stealing chips. But when that call comes from the store owner…there’s no one else. It’s just us.

On April 11, City Council reached an agreement with Liberty Resources to provide crisis mental health services in the city. At Thursday’s press conference, Walsh said the city needs to do better to include these services in its dealings with children.

In 2021, the SPD arrested 270 “juvenile offenders”, according to SPD data provided to the Daily Orange by Rusin.

Rusin defined a juvenile offender as a child between the ages of seven and 18 who commits a crime. Typically, criminal cases against juvenile offenders are tried in family court, according to Rusin, with the exception of 16- and 17-year-olds who commit offenses under vehicular or traffic law.

By law, juvenile offenders do not go to jail, according to Rusin – the competent court decides whether they need supervision, treatment or placement through social services.

At the meeting, Rusin said SPD officers are required to complete 40 hours of handling training, including de-escalation techniques, behavior and handling minors.

Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens spoke at the meeting and addressed the committee with concerns about social services being involved in urgent police calls when time is of the essence.

“We don’t have that luxury when we have a kid,” Owens said. “When we talk about alternatives to response – when we say ‘immediate response’, it has to be immediate.”

But Cécile said there had to be other organizations involved along with the police when it came to apprehending and deterring minors from engaging in criminal behaviour. It is important to detect criminal patterns early and take preventative action before children go down the wrong path, he said.

“You start by stealing chips. You move on, then you move on to burglary, then you move on to theft, and then you end up on one side or the other of the gun,” Cécile said. “There must be programs that step in and step in and stop this, but it’s not all of us.”

Councilor Rasheada Caldwell said a potential solution could be greater collaboration with social services and the police in terms of sharing the names and details of minors who appear to be going this route, but the committee acknowledged privacy concerns with the suggestion.

Owens said the root of the problem is crime-related trauma, which the city’s adults experience and which then affects their children the most.

“Our child problem is not a child problem. It is an adult problem,” she said.