Community connections, public safety and reimagining policing will be on the top of the agenda for Syracuse's next Chief of Police. Mark Rusin was named the next department leader by incoming Mayor Sharon Owens this month
Rusin, currently a Deputy Chief of Police spoke with WAER about the job in front of him and some of the challenges he'll face. He described the task as focusing on three parts.
"One, leave it better than the way you found it. Two, build the person who's going to take your job over in four or eight years or whatever it is. And 3, really try to deepen the connections with the community. Build deeper community connections and then impart that knowledge on to the folks coming up underneath you," said Rusin.
He added the department has undergone changes in what he calls reimagining police.
"When you call 911, you typically got police, fire, EMS. But a lot of people who call 911 don't need police, fire, or EMS. they need to be int eh human services vein," said Rusin.
He said he worked with city government and community partners to created the 4th lever, "a concept of, if you call 911, and it doesn't need a police response, who is on contract that can go and handle that."
On the crime front, he detailed addressing gang activity, but also smaller group violence, often spurred by social media posts that rile up conflict.
"You also have spontaneous or rapidly-evolving violent acts, and people are turning to guns to solve (them)," Rusin noted.
He plans to continue the Mayor's office to Reduce Gun Violence, and meetings with local pastors, "to have very honest conversations to talk about (crime) data, to talk about where the problems are." He also plans to utilize body-worn cameras more as both a tool for transparency, but also in training, especially when the footage might show a way an incident was handled well, or tensions were eased.
Rusin described the role of the Citizen Review Board as having an important role, and said there were plans to have the board undergo training on police procedures.
he concluded by saying the priorities will always be to focus on "violent crime, crimes against people and property," But also focus on relationships.
"Now that you have a new Mayor coming in, a new Police Chief, a new command staff coming in, you've got to build those relationships, Rusin explained. "And ultimately, you've got to listen to the community, ... meetings with spiritual leaders, non-profits, business leaders. they an excellent police department ... but you need to listen to them too."
