By JO WARD

jward@observertoday.com

First Ward Councilman Don Williams had a few concerns with comments being spread in regards to Dunkirk not being a safe community.

At the last Common Council meeting, Williams took a few moments during his report period to ask Dunkirk Police Chief Dave Ortolano about the questions he’s been hearing.

“People have been making some comments that Dunkirk is not too safe anymore,” Williams stated. “I just wondered if you had any information that you could share on how safe Dunkirk is?”

“I believe that we have a very safe community,” Ortolano commented. “Our community is no different than any other communities across the state or our nation. All communities have issues, all communities have problems. I’m biased when I say this, but our police department does one heck of a good job with public safety.”

Ortolano went on to cite a recently released list from the FBI of the 30 most dangerous places to live in Upstate New York. According to the study, there were three communities in Chautauqua County, four in Erie County and three in Niagara County — Dunkirk is not one of them.

“I think that we address the problems that we have with this community,” Ortolano went on. “I’m not saying that we don’t have issues, but we’re not afraid to say that they’re out there. We’re not afraid to address them and try to make them better, to provide a safe environment for our water front, business and residential areas.”

Recently, the police chief attended a meeting for county mental health and found, according to him, that Dunkirk has one of the lowest overdose rates in the county.

“On a yearly basis, when we run our incident based reporting, our statistics will show that our violent crime in this community is on a decline, not on an incline. I think we’re doing a pretty good job,” said Ortolano.

Williams thanked both the police and fire departments, saying, “I sleep just fine knowing that you guys are watching over the city.”