Community police officers hope to bridge the gap between law enforcement and Western New Yorkers when they host their community events throughout the year — but COVID-19 is leaving this all up in the air for now.


What You Need To Know

  • Community police officers are waiting to see if they can have their community events this summer
  • COVID-19 pandemic currently prevents large gatherings 
  • South Buffalo community leader hopes to host community police events again soon 

"Everything right now is still very tenuous," said Anthony LeBron, a community police officer with the Buffalo Police Department.

The department has 10 community police officers and they're spread out through the five districts in the city.

Officer LeBron works with schools, businesses, children, and block clubs with one goal in mind.

"Let them see that we're not just a uniform, we're people just like they are," said Officer LeBron.

That's becoming a little harder these days since the pandemic is putting a hold on large gatherings. Officer LeBron says the last time he had a public event in the district was back in February.

"For some of our events, we bring out the SWAT truck, the URT truck, the ERT truck, we land the helicopter, the K9 dogs, and we hope that if COVID can settle down enough before the end of summer that we'd like to still be able to do some of these events," he said.

In normal times, the Seneca Babcock Arlene Mychajliw Community Center, which is run by the Seneca Babcock Community Association, is just one of many places to host these events. Brian Pilarski, the organization's executive director, says the community police officers really leave a mark.

"They're very popular. I mean the community police officers are in the neighborhood. They get to know the kids and the kids get to know the police officers and build that trust and that relationship with them, especially times where we're at right now, it's a little tough," Pilarski said.

Summer is usually a busy time for these community events, but officers are still waiting to see if any will be allowed. 

"It's very isolating, especially when you have a tremendous amount of support from the community and those individuals that rely on you, you have that personal relationship, you know each other by first name because you worked together for so many years. It's difficult to not be able to meet with them face to face and address their issues in person like we normally would," Officer LeBron said.

"For some of our events, we bring out the SWAT truck, the URT truck, the ERT truck, we land the helicopter, the K9 dogs and we hope that if COVID can settle down enough before the end of summer that we'd like to still be able to do some of these events," he said.

In normal times, the Seneca Babcock Arlene Mychajliw Community Center, which is run by the Seneca Babcock Community Association, is just one of many places to host these events. Brian Pilarski, the organization's executive director, says the community police officers really leave a mark.

"They're very popular. I mean the community police officers are in the neighborhood. They get to know the kids and the kids get to know the police officers and build that trust and that relationship with them, especially times where we're at right now, it's a little tough," Pilarski said.

Summer is usually a busy time for these community events but officers are still waiting to see if any will be allowed. 

"It's very isolating especially when you have a tremendous amount of support from the community and those individuals that rely on you, you have that personal relationship you know each other by first name because you worked together for so many years, it's difficult to not be able to meet with them face to face and address their issues in person like we normally would," Officer LeBron said.