Leadership Niagara
Det. Lt. Sandi Arist, who heads the Niagara Falls Police Department’s Crime Scene Unit, was awarded the 2023 Law Enforcement Foundation of WNY scholarship to attend Leadership Niagara. She also oversees the Department’s grants and accreditations.
Lt Arist joined the Police in 2010, after working as a paramedic. A Niagara Falls native, she graduated from LaSalle Senior High School and the Niagara Law Enforcement Academy. She drew news media coverage in 2020, when she matched a fingerprint found at a break-in that led to the arrest and felony charges for an individual responsible for multiple incidents at women’s homes.
“Thanks to the Foundation for sponsoring me and helping me to become a better leader,” she said. “I appreciate the opportunity to learn new ways to help my colleagues achieve their best. This experience has allowed me to expand my business and community contacts to build better future partnerships.”
She and her husband, Administrative Lt. Thomas Arist, are the Department’s first husband and wife serving as supervisors.
Youth Day Activities
Herbert Bellamy, Jr., a member of the Board, coordinated the Law Enforcement Foundation of WNY’s second annual Youth Day, on July 27, acquainting 150 area young people with law enforcement officers and careers. Airshare’s hangar on Cayuga Rd. provided plenty of space for the daylong program of demonstrations, displays and hands-on activities. Lunch was provided.
Foundation Chairman Rocco Diina said that the 2024 event will be expanded to include Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts earning merit badges as well as youngsters in summer camps.
Highlights from 2023
Our Foundation’s Youth Day
One hundred fifty young people from Erie and Niagara Counties had a full day of interaction with law enforcement during the first Youth Day sponsored by the Law Enforcement Foundation of WNY on Aug. 31. Herbert Bellamy, Jr., a member of the Foundation Board of Directors, was chairman.
A Tac Air hangar was the setting for multiple educational demonstrations by various agencies, including physical fitness, vehicles and equipment, technology, K-9 units, drones, and evidence collection.
The event set out to improve communication and trust between youngsters and law enforcement while also introducing future career opportunities.
Explorers Post 716, under the direction of Jeannie Rak, provided volunteer service. The teen-agers welcomed participants and assisted with activities and meal service. Rak, who retired as a lieutenant after 34 years with the Buffalo Police, is an instructor at the Ere County Law Enforcement Training Center at ECC North. The Post, which meets at Assumption Church, is among the recipients of past grants from the Foundation.
Foundation Grants
West Seneca
The West Seneca Police Department has a new Firearms Simulator fully funded by the Law Enforcement Foundation of WNY.
The unit, which projects on-screen scenarios and training tools for firearms use, will be utilized by all the department’s 66 sworn officers.
“This grant from the Foundation helps us tremendously,” Chief Ed Baker said. “The simulator provides the opportunity to train in firearms use without the expenses of firing live rounds or having a firing range.”
The system projects several applications where officers might make “shoot or don’t shoot” decisions. The focus is on developing tactical judgment skills to determine whether or not to use a weapon. “We can customize our own real-life scenarios into the programming,” Chief Baker said. A basic program of firearms fundamentals training also is included.
In addition to in-house training, the department has demonstrated the simulator in at community events, where the public can take turns using it. “They learn what it’s like to place themselves in making similar decisions. It’s an eye opener,” he said.
Foundation Grants
Erie County
At the request of Erie County Law Enforcement Training Academy Executive Director Joseph Strano, the Law Enforcement Foundation of WNY funded the purchase of a new active-shooter target-training program.
Suspended vinyl banners imprinted with life-size depictions of persons representing armed threats on one side and the same individuals unarmed on the other side are used to teach appropriate response tactics.
Steve Padin, lead firearms instructor, thanked the Foundation and said: “After working with familiar instructors as role players, this new element causes participants to pause and react in a much more realistic manner.” Strano added: “This allows us to evaluate and improve upon officer decision making under stress.”
The academy, located on the Erie Community College North Campus, over the past five years has trained more than 500 officers from regional, state and federal agencies.
