Police Dept. issues annual report on crime data

By JEFF MORRIS

Bedford Police Chief Melvin Padilla has presented the department’s annual report to the town board.

At the Feb. 18 meeting he outlined the department’s makeup, currently consisting of 53 employees. There are 40 sworn officers, with six females, 31 males, and three vacancies. An executive staff includes a chief and three lieutenants, consisting of one Hispanic male and three white males. Supervisors include seven patrol sergeants, with four white males, one black male, one Hispanic female and one white female. Investigations are handled by four white male detectives and one white male detective sergeant. There is one supervisory officer who identifies as LGTBQIA+. On patrol are 25 patrol officers, who include one Hispanic male, two Hispanic females, two white females, and 20 white males.

The number of calls for service, said Padilla, had dropped from 31,851 in 2022 to 29,265 in 2023, but fell only a small amount to 28,738 in 2024.

Larcenies have consistently been the largest crime category over the past five years, far exceeding other crimes. Padilla said property crime includes taking valuables from vehicles, and shoplifting. He continued the call for the community to make such crimes less likely by trying to lock valuables up. 

“I think if we make a really concerted effort, together we can bring that number down by reducing the opportunity,” he said.

There were 52 total arrests in 2024, which Padilla broke down demographically to 23 Caucasian, 22 Hispanic, 6 Black, and one other; 58 percent were non-town residents and 42 percent were town residents.

Padilla explained that any time there is an incident that involves physical contact, such as assisting by putting a person’s hands behind their back, they are required to generate a report. In 2024, there were 11 total use-of-force incidents, seven of which involved use of restraining force. There were no injuries involved in any of them. There were four displays of a weapon, including a man holding a baseball bat; a female holding a knife; a man holding a shotgun; and a fleeing suspect reaching into their waistband.

“In those instances, the officer displayed their firearm, for their safety and the safety of everyone around,” said Padilla. “Just the display of the firearm required a report. There was no further use of the firearm.”

In traffic enforcement, there were 1,467 tickets and 1,311 warnings issued in 2024. Broken down by demographics, the pattern was similar to the last three years, with 869 warnings and 745 tickets issued to white drivers, while 308 warnings and 548 tickets were issued to Hispanics, and a small number to others. Padilla explained that the escalated number of summonses issued to Hispanics is something he has addressed in past years. 

“A lot of these are non-discretionary violations,” he said. “Those would include uninsured, unregistered, unlicensed, suspended license, suspended registration, and DWI.” 

He said 249 summonses were non-discretionary, and if you remove those, the numbers become consistent with all other demographics.

Male/female demographics in traffic enforcement showed 1,058 summonses issued to males, versus 853 warnings, while females received 395 summonses and 458 warnings. Those ratios for women were consistent with the previous two years. For males, however, there had been a higher number of warnings — 962 — than tickets — 906 — in 2023. That was a reversal, again, from 2022, when males received 701 warnings and 888 summonses.

The number of motor vehicle accidents has been consistent for the last three years: 396 in 2022, 412 in 2023, and 406 in 2024. Also consistent were injuries, with 81 in 2022, 75 in 2023, and 92 in 2024. There was one resulting fatality in 2024, which Padilla said was “not something we would be able to correct; it was a tragic circumstance that resulted in a fatality.”

Padilla provided an extensive list of training sessions attended by various members of the department, covering subjects such as CPR, leadership, de-escalation, firearms, elder abuse, human trafficking, workplace violence, among others. Board member Bobbi Bittker asked if there was any specific training for domestic violence, which she did not see on the list. Padilla said there were not any specific domestic violence courses offered in the region, but “it is offered from time to time, and if it is, we participate.” He noted the department has a female officer who does follow-up on domestic violence incidents and provides information on resources.

Bittker also asked whether there had been any noticeable change in calls from the immigrant population owing to fear of contacting authorities. Padilla said he could not report any appreciable difference right now, but the department has been doing and will continue to do community outreach efforts to increase public trust. 

Among highlights of police activity in 2024 cited by Padilla were the attempted larceny of an ATM machine from a gas station in Bedford Village; after being notified by a resident of a loud noise at 3:20 a.m., police were able to prevent the theft and apprehend one of the suspects. Officers Jordan Baschnagel, Joseph Sagliano and Ronald Sauber were recognized for heroic acts after rescuing a mother and two children from a Bedford Hills house fire. Bedford detectives, working alongside the FBI, were able to identify and track a suspect in New Jersey after a makeshift bomb went off in a Bedford Hills driveway. And a detective and three officers were recognized for resuscitating a hockey player at the Harvey School. 

Also cited were incidents involving scams in which the department was able to recover substantial sums of money, in one case recovering $32,000, and in another, $50,000. Padilla noted the department is holding a scam and fraud prevention class on March 11, from 6 to 8 p.m. 

Padilla also went through a long recap of community events in which the department participated.