Police fail a tenant who returns home to find everything gone

We are writing jointly to address what we believe may become a mischaracterization of our respective office’s efforts around housing and unlawful evictions as defined in New York State Real Property Actions and Proceedings Law 768.Show more

In the summer of 2019, after the above statute was passed, members of the DA’s office met with an attorney from the Legal Services of Central New York to discuss the parameters of the new law, and to identify a point person in the DA’s office to navigate investigations and arrests under the statute. After COVID hit and courts shut down halting access to eviction warrants, an attorney who worked in housing alerted Mr. Fitzpatrick to the fact that self-help evictions were on the rise. In April of 2020, members of the District Attorneys’ Office met virtually with representatives from three legal service agencies who deal with housing advocacy in Central New York. We came up with a plan to educate the 21 police agencies who serve Onondaga County on the parameters of the law, and to facilitate communication between various law enforcement agencies, the DA’s office and housing attorneys in order to address two major issues. First, we wanted to ensure that the statute was being investigated and charged appropriately. And second, we wanted to connect people who were experiencing acute housing crises with services to address their immediate safety.

To this end, the DA’s office drafted overviews of the law for police departments, and created two-way open lines of communication between housing attorneys and identified point-persons in the office. The Syracuse Police Department responded by issuing two training bulletins to its officers, conducted roll call training, and identified a sergeant to liaison with the DA’s office and housing attorneys. Since spring of 2020, the team has communicated frequently about individual cases as they arise, and about how to improve our response as a whole. Our efforts include facilitating response by patrol, educating officers on the law, providing investigative guidance and charging decisions, and ensuring that the reasons for our decisions are clearly communicated to stakeholders.

As of this writing, the Onondaga County DA’s office has prosecuted ten cases alleging unlawful eviction. 80% of these were investigated and arrested by the Syracuse Police Department, often in collaboration with input by the DA’s office and our housing partners. These numbers reflect what our experience has been on the ground: the collaboration between our offices and tenant attorneys has been effective and has led to criminal prosecution when it was legally supported by the evidence.

In any system, there will inevitably be breakdowns. However, the success of the team is defined as much by what we do well, as how we address our shortcomings. As part of your story, you asked about a complaint by Kelicia Sterling on July 8, 2021. We agree that this case deserves a second look and we are reviewing the entirety of this incident. In addition, you have suggested that housing advocates reported they are unhappy with the response by the Syracuse Police Department. While this has not been communicated to either of our officers, we are continuing to dialogue with our partners to improve lines of communication, to enhance everyone’s understanding of the investigative process, and to identify the best approach, whether through criminal prosecution or advocacy, to each case. We do not believe one shortcoming should overshadow what has otherwise been a successful, collaborative effort which continues to improve through self-assessment and constructive criticism.

It is important to note that some of the circumstances which co-occurred with or lead to the increase in eviction issues have also presented challenges to law enforcement’s involvement in trying to solve them. These include the ongoing pandemic; the eviction moratorium which has led to frustration on both sides of the landlord tenant divide; increase in violent crime impacting police response to non-violent incidents; attrition in the police force; aging housing stock in the City of Syracuse; and hesitance by tenants to cooperate with police investigation. Clearly these issues are not going away; both of our offices remain committed to working together, and working with housing attorneys and advocates in the face of these obstacles to best serve the citizens of Syracuse and Onondaga County.
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