New York State - Division of Criminal Justice Services

Niagara Falls City Police DepartmentThe project is managed as a special operation under the direction of the captainof the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) and emphasis is placed on investigations,follow-ups and insurance fraud cases. Crime reports are generally taken by the PatrolDivision and forwarded to the Criminal Investigation Division, where they are reviewedby supervisors and assigned to a criminal investigator or to patrol division personnel forfollow-up or continued investigation. Copies of auto-theft / insurance fraud-relatedreports are then forwarded to the Police Planning/Computer Division for statisticalanalysis. This information is then forwarded to the superintendent of police and captainof C.I.D. to be used at the weekly meeting attended by all division supervisors.Within Niagara Falls, motor vehicle theft has decreased 20.5% from 2008 to2009. Most motor vehicle thefts are being reported between 8a.m. and noon, with themost thefts reported on Saturday and Sunday. Of the 188 vehicles reported stolen in2009, 88 vehicles were recovered (47%) with a recovery value of $302,578. The MVTIFUnit made 23 misdemeanor arrests for motor vehicle theft and five felony arrests.Three factors continue to contribute to the motor vehicle theft and insurancefraud problem in the city. First, the city borders the Canadian Province of Ontario andhas two international bridges and a New York State Park within its jurisdiction. Eachyear, Niagara Falls hosts between 10,000,000 - 12,000,000 tourists visiting in thedowntown, south end, of the city. Due to the popularity of the Seneca Niagara GamblingCasino and Hotel, and the increased economic development around the Casino andState Park, the typical tourist season has been extended and there is an influx ofvehicles and people in the downtown area that were not present in previous years.Tourists and vacationers present easy prey for organized criminal activity. Second,Niagara Falls is located adjacent to the city of Buffalo. Past cases have shown thatvehicles are often stolen from urban streets and shopping malls and transported toNiagara Falls, where thieves believe that fewer law enforcement officers make it aneasier location to chop and dismantle automobiles. Finally, organized youth gangs haveoperated from the extremely impoverished area of the Tuscarora Indian Reservation formany years, with vehicles often stolen from Niagara Falls and recovered on thereservation.The project will utilize the following enforcement strategies to address theproblem: crime analysis, surveillance, sting operations, development of confidentialinformants, patrol-level training, investigator level training, follow-up investigations, andpublic education.The primary components of the project will be criminal investigations assigned bythe supervisors of the Criminal Investigations Division, with investigations analyzed topredict crime pattern indicators and will focus on auto theft, insurance fraud, and falseinsurance claims. As the situation warrants, the agency will operate surveillance inlocations identified through crime analysis as high auto theft crime areas, and stingsNYS DIVISION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE SERVICES MVTIFP BOARD / ANNUAL REPORT 2009 Page 64