Buffalo Police "Partners Up" For Safety Measures

The Buffalo Police Department is taking additional measures to keep officers safe in light of the recent shooting that occurred this morning in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 

Three officers were presumed dead and three more listed in critical condition after a gun man, identified as 29-year-old Gavin Long, an African-American man from Kansas City, opened fire.

City Spokesman Mike DeGeorge said, the BPD is upholding the changes put in place following the Dallas shooting that resulted in the death of five officers, as precautionary measures. Buffalo Police, he said, will continue riding in pairs, two per vehicle, in hopes that more uniforms patrolling the streets will provide a heightened sense of security for those serving in blue. 

But according to former FBI Agent Bernie Tolbert, a twenty-year veteran of the Bureau and a Buffalo native, two officers may not be an extreme enough measure depending on the circumstance.

"Four police officers in a car, ten police officers in a car, it's hard to quantify that because you never know what the situation is that we're going to be presented with," he expressed.

Tonight, Mayor Byron Brown will light the dome of City Hall in red, white and blue as a sign of unity and solidarity, in honor of those officers who lost their lives in the line of duty.