Police Reform

On June 12, 2020, Governor Cuomo signed Executive Order 203 entitled New York State Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative.  Established shortly after the death of George Floyd and the resulting nation-wide protests, the order requires every local government that maintains a police department in the State of New York to conduct a comprehensive review of that department’s use of force, strategies, policies, procedures, and practices and to develop a plan that reinvents and modernizes these things based on community input. The purpose of the plan is to foster trust, fairness, and legitimacy through community engagement and address any racial bias and disproportionate policing of communities of color where it may exist.  The governing board must adopt the plan no later than April 1, 2021, and the order authorizes the Director of the Division of the Budget to condition State aid on the adoption of such a plan.

The Governor issued formal guidelines for the process in August.

Many local towns and villages have responded to the order by putting together advisory committees inclusive of government officials, the police, the clergy, and various community representatives considered to have a stake in policing. Several municipalities have also distributed surveys to their residents to gauge how they feel about their interactions with the police and where improvements might be needed.  In January, the Village of Tuxedo Park chose to do both.  The committee reviewing police practices consisted of Police Chief David Conklin; Mayor David McFadden; Trustee Chris Kasker; Serena Mueller, Associate Head Tuxedo Park School; Rev. Rick Robyn, St. Mary’s-in-Tuxedo Church; Joshua Scherer from the Tuxedo Club, attorney Stewart Rosenwasser, and TPFYI Reporter/life-long Village resident, Meg Vaught.

The executive order required that certain topics be reviewed and discussed and that many evidence-based policing strategies such as the use of force policies, implicit bias awareness training, community-based outreach, and conflict resolution, de-escalation training and practices, problem-oriented policing, and studies addressing systemic racial bias or racial justice in policing be considered.  The Village committee touched on all of these and more, also taking the time to consider the desired role of police in the community and various methods of improving community engagement, how the department is staffed, and a variety of methods for employing smart and effective policing standards and strategies moving forward.

These discussions were aided by the distribution of a community survey, which 80 some-odd residents completed. The final result of this work is a solid Reform and Reinvention Plan, which was posted to the Village website on February 17.  The Village asks residents to review the plan and come forward with comments and suggestions before the March 17 Board of Trustees meeting.  After careful consideration of all public comments, the Board will move to adopt the plan at that meeting.

Liaison Mayor David McFadden