SYRACUSE -- After a series of incidents involving several Central New York police agencies, police are stepping up warnings and in-service training to make sure incidents end safely.
Sgt. Gary Bulinski of the Syracuse Police Department says shift supervisors are regularly reminding officers going on duty to be vigilant and not take chances, even in what seem to be routine traffic stops. This past weekend, officers say a suspect tried to run them down after a report of a stolen truck on Syracuse's north side. A shot was fired, and the chase that followed was called off because officers thought it was too dangerous. The suspect was eventually arrested in Oswego.
Earlier this month, a stolen car report ended in a chase to the western suburbs, where the car spun out on a grassy median and the suspect was arrested after a car chase, and reportedly after resisting arrest.
There was also the incident where a man accused of robbing vending machines near Great Northern Mall led sheriff's deputies on a chase in a dump truck. That ended near Bristol-Myers Squibb laboratories in East Syracuse.
Also, after a bank robbery in Rome, a deputy was shot while tracking the suspect.
Bulinski says there are in-service training sessions that deal with defensive tactics, and there is a 'show of force' effort when police respond, to show that they do mean business. The police emphasis is that all come home safely at the end of a shift.
Bulinski says the police have caught all their suspects - who then find that 'failure to comply' means extra charges against them.
