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Members of the Syracuse Common Council’s Public Safety committee met with representatives from the Syracuse Police Department 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 went viral on social media over the past week, as well as a brief recap of the Armory Square shooting on April 16.

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

“It was a child in the back seat of a patrol car crying his eyes out. And it was visceral,” Cecile said. “But the narrative pushed out by the citizen that went viral was only part of the story.”

In both a press conference on Thursday and Monday’s meeting, SPD officials said that the child was not handcuffed and the father and children engaged in an “uplifting” conversation with officers afterwards.

The father of the child later told syracuse.com that he wants to file a complaint regarding the incident after seeing the viral video.

Cecile was appointed SPD Chief by Mayor Ben Walsh on Friday, after former Chief Kenton Buckner cited personal reasons for his resignation earlier that day.

While Cecile was defensive of the officers involved, he stressed that actions need to be taken on a widespread level to limit the levels of crime the city has seen from juveniles.

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

On April 11, the Common Council entered into an agreement with Liberty Resources to provide crisis mental health services in the city. During the Thursday press conference, Walsh said the city needs to do better to include these services when dealing with children.

In 2021, SPD arrested 270 “juvenile delinquents,” according to SPD data given to The Daily Orange by Rusin.

Rusin defined a juvenile delinquent as a child between seven and 18 years of age who commits a crime. Generally, criminal cases against juvenile delinquents are decided in Family Court, according to Rusin, except for 16- and 17-year-olds who commit misdemeanors under vehicle or traffic law.

Under the law, juvenile delinquents do not go to jail, according to Rusin — the appropriate court decides if they need supervision, treatment or placement through social services.

In the meeting, Rusin said SPD officers are required to take 40 hours of handling training, including techniques in de-escalation, demeanor and addressing juveniles.

Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens spoke at the meeting and addressed the committee with concerns over social services becoming involved with urgent police calls where time is pressing.

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

But Cecile said there have to be other organizations involved with the police when it comes to apprehending and dissuading juveniles from criminal behavior. It’s important to catch criminal patterns early and engage in preventative measures before children go down the wrong path, he said.

“You start with stealing chips. You move on to something else, then you move on to burglary, and then you move on to robbery, and then you end up at one end of the gun or the other,” Cecile said. “There have to be programs that go in and intervene and stop that, but it isn’t all us.”

Councilor Rasheada Caldwell said that a potential solution could be more collaboration with social services departments and the police in terms of sharing the names and information of juveniles who are seen to be going down that path, but the committee acknowledged privacy issues with the suggestion.

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

“Our child issue is not a child issue. It’s an adult issue,” she said.

Published on April 26, 2022 at 2:27 am

Contact Richard: rcperrin@syr.edu | @richardperrins2