New Police Chief Favors ‘Old School’ Beat Patrol

Hudson Police Chief Ed Moore

Hudson Police Chief Ed Moore

by Seth Rogovoy

(HUDSON, N.Y.) – New police chief L. Edward Moore has some ideas about how to do things differently in this small river city, and at the top of the list is getting cops out of cars and onto the streets, walking the beat.

“The police car was a bad invention,” he told a crowd of about 60, mostly residents of the First Ward in the southwestern part of town, on Thursday night at Basilica Hudson. “It cut us from the people we’re meant to serve.”

Moore described himself as “old school” in his belief in community policing, that having officers walking the streets and interacting with residents and businesspeople is an effective way to deter crime and to create better relations between the police force and the citizenry it serves.

“I’m old school, which means I’m now cutting edge,” he said, noting that the old-fashioned style of policing he favors is now state-of-the-art thinking.

Although the phrase never came out of his mouth, nor did he directly acknowledge that he adopts the theory, those in attendance concurred with the “broken windows” theory of crime prevention, and noted that quality of life crimes, such as littering, are rampant in their ward, as they are around the city.

(As one who lives next door to a vacant building sporting broken windows, littered with trash, and overgrown with weeds, I also concur that the city ought to address code enforcement, although it’s unclear whether or not this is a matter for the police department rather than city hall.)

Moore was a confident and reassuring presence at the well-attended community forum that attracted a diverse group of attendees, many of whom freely shared their own ideas and concerns about what troubles plague their own neighborhood and the city at large, and what to do about them.

From his distaste for writing tickets – Moore, a former state trooper who was on the verge of retirement before being lured into taking the post in his hometown, where he lived until going off to college, claimed the last ticket he issued was in 1986 – to his sensitivity for crime victims – he said his own home was burgled in 2001, which instilled such fear in his young son that he sought out counseling – Moore came across as a capable, sensible, intelligent, level-headed and experienced officer of the law and administrator – what First Ward Alderman Nick Haddad called “a sergeant’s sergeant.”

Moore displayed a sense of humor at times, too. Acknowledging Hudson’s somewhat sordid past and its long tradition of tolerating lawbreaking, he said, “This town was predicated on crime – they snuck whales up here past the British.”

Ed Moore hBut Moore seems to want to bring the policing of the city into the 21st century. He noted that that the Hudson police department doesn’t have a website nor a Facebook page, yet such online and social media tools can actually help solve crimes, or at least aid in investigations – he noted a recent case where a lost dog was recovered due to a Facebook posting, before the message even got out to the authorities to be on the lookout. He also said the city has several portable surveillance cameras on hand that could and would be positioned in areas where citizens note illegal activity taking place.

Moore seemed sensitive to people’s public perceptions of the police force. One resident thanked him for unveiling the plate-glass windows of the police headquarters on Warren Street, windows that were formerly wrapped in an opaque film. He still is dissatisfied with the unfriendly face of the station, where a disembodied voice is all that one hears upon entering. He said he already has plans for an open, welcoming reception area for a new police station, which is in the works at the former Finnish Fitness building on upper Union Street.

He was adamant about keeping his word, addressing people’s concerns, and leading a department that works as hard at respecting the citizenry as it does solving and deterring crimes. “I made you a promise for more foot patrols, and I intend to keep it,” he said, laying it on the line in a forthright manner.

Moore made clear that his longstanding service in the greater metropolitan New York region, including work on an organized crime task force, will serve him and the city of Hudson well, as he has the connections one in his position needs to get help when it is required. He knows who to ask for help, and he knows how to get it.

“I have a lot of contacts,” he said. “I can bring all aspects to bear. I’m not afraid of asking for help from the state police, the sheriffs, to aid with traditional police investigation.”

For example, in response to the issue of disruptive tractor-trailer traffic down by the waterfront, Moore all but promised that a state detail would be in town soon to stop trucks and be sure they will be up to code, suggesting that many would probably be found deficient.

Residents fed up with the nuisance of constantly being ticketed by police for the slightest parking infraction will be pleased to note that Moore feels this is a poor use of police resources. “Parking sticks in my craw,” he said. “I don’t think it has anything to do with the police.” He said he has a meeting scheduled in Albany to discuss this very matter, to turn over the policing of parking to some other agency.

Moore credited what he described as a mostly young police force with hard work and dedication. “These guys average twenty, twenty-five calls per shift,” he said. “That’s a lot – more typical is four or five.”

But he acknowledged that there needs to be more direction from above. “My job is directing that energy in the right area…. There shouldn’t be an us-vs.-them mentality.”

In spite of that sentiment, Moore did become somewhat defensive — perhaps understandably so, but still – when that issue was addressed from the floor. He bristled at suggestions of high-level corruption and police intimidation of ordinary townsfolk. The suggestion that people felt powerless or scared to report such behavior seemed to fall on deaf ears, in his only notable miscue, from a public relations standpoint – of the evening.

It was also somewhat surprising to hear from residents of the First Ward the extent of the perception of crime and drug-dealing in their neighborhood, widely thought around town to be one of the more desirable locations in which to live in Hudson.

One resident of the borderline between the Second and Fourth wards wondered to himself if the folks over in the First don’t know how good they have it.

 

 

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