BUFFALO, N.Y. — There's been a lot of momentum on a number of issues affecting police-community relations in Buffalo.

"Some of the social issues that people were concerned about are starting to get some attention," said Richard Fontana, (D) Buffalo Common Council.

It's been in discussion for years, but now the Buffalo Police Department's accreditation is one step closer to reality. In fact, they think they could be done with the process by the end of this year.

"The advantages are that you're meeting a state standard for how you conduct your record keeping, your training, and how you manage your policies, procedures, property and evidence," said Capt. Jeff Rinaldo, Buffalo Police Department.

"That is absolutely something that I think will better foster trust between the residents and the officers because it goes to show there's an added level of effort being made,” said Danielle Johnson, Police Oversight Committee Citizen Advisory Board member.

The Buffalo Police Department is also looking into the use of tasers, which is an apparent 180 from their stance just a few months ago. The former police commissioner had said he was concerned about the safety of using the device and the fact it might be ineffective on people wearing heavy winter coats.

"We met with TASER. We had a demonstration. We had some very pointed questions for them regarding whether that device could cause an in-custody death. Since the last time we did look at it, there have been a number of changes to the technology, as well as to some of the litigation that has being seen around the country. So it makes the feasibility more appropriate now than it did necessarily three or four years ago," said Rinaldo.

Police have not yet laid out a potential cost or timeline for the tasers.

"I'll look at tasers. I'm starting to worry about having too much on their vest. They're heavy now. They're telling me they're not fitting in the Dodge Chargers because they have so much stuff on them," said Fontana.

Johnson added, "This is a conversation I'm looking forward to our advisory body having with the police officers. Though I'm sure the officers are coming from a good place, it is good for them to understand what the consequences of that would be for the residents and for building trust."

While the new advisory board plans to meet every few weeks, the next oversight committee meeting is not yet on the calendar. It should be sometime this summer.