Published: April 08, 2007 10:32 pm      

CRIME: Operation Impact to again hit streets of Niagara Falls

The last thing Joseph Perry expected to see as he stepped from a 19th Street crack house was the cops.

Yet there they were. Falls Police Field Intelligence Officer Karl Brusino, along with a Niagara County probation officer and some New York State Police troopers nearby. Perry, already on probation, began to quickly head in the other direction.

The cops told him to stop, but instead Perry popped whatever he had bought into his mouth and swallowed hard. Police believe Perry’s snack was a quantity of crack.

Now Perry faces charges of first-degree loitering and tampering with physical evidence, while Cataract City neighborhoods are getting a return visit from Operation Impact.

Once confined, in its first two years of funding, to just the summer months, the latest installment of what cops simply call “Impact” has been ongoing since July.

“It never stopped,” Falls Police Superintendent John Chella said. “The burglary and robbery task forces and some of our warrants stuff has continued straight through since the summer. What you’ll see between now and the end of June is the finale of Impact 3.”

Falls residents can expect to see a lot of what they’ve grown accustomed to with Operation Impact.

“We sat down a few weeks ago and analyzed how much money we had left and began allocating it,” Chella said.

Returning over the past two weeks have been saturation patrols with additional Falls police partnered with uniformed state troopers. Also back in operation is the Violent Crime Intervention Team (VCIT), which puts city cops and troopers in plainclothes and unmarked cars to attack specific problems.

“VCIT is project-specific and concentrates on high crime areas where we have a lot of drug and gun use,” Chella said.

Perry was a caught by an intervention team.

“We did a briefing on the situation in the 400 block of 19th Street,” Chella said. “I know (Brusino) had isolated a house there that he wanted to watch. I’m glad it worked out.”

Also slated to return, when tourist season arrives, are bike patrols.

Chella said the plan for the remainder of Operation Impact is to remain unpredictable in what projects will be operating and when.

“If there was one thing I think we learned in the first two years, it was that we were too predictable in what we did and when,” Chella said. “Now when we do saturation patrols of VCIT you may see them on a Tuesday or a Saturday.”

Analysis of criminal activity, provided by Brusino and an expert from Niagara University, working with Falls cops, will drive the Impact operations.

“I think we’ll do a good job of keeping the individuals we’re concerned about off guard,” the chief said.

Contact reporter Rick Pfeifferat 282-2311, ext. 2252.