The Westchester County Board of Legislators has officially adopted the report of the county’s Police Reform and Reimagining Task Force in a unanimous vote on March 22, after weeks of review by the board’s Public Safety Committee.
The adoption of the report establishes a blueprint for police reform intended to promote more equitable policing in Westchester. The 177-page report contains 51 recommendations for the county’s police, correction and other public safety operations including:
• implicit bias and intercultural competency training for law enforcement personnel
• A formal review of the county Department of Public Safety’s use of social media for branding and community outreach
• creation of community liaisons
• increased multi-lingual communications
• training in implicit bias and restorative justice for School Resource Officers
• joint de-escalation training with the Department of Correction
• increased Police Academy training in procedural justice, cultural diversity and bias-related crimes
• creation of a county Office of Police Accountability
“I’m thankful to fellow members of the Task Force for the serious and cooperative work they put into this report,” said Legislator Damon Maher, who sat on the Task Force. “We engaged in genuine, substantive dialog that wasn’t always comfortable, but I believe was constructive. This report that we’re adopting fairly reflects the broad consensus of that dialog and I pledge to work hard to implement its recommendations, most importantly the establishment of a strong and independent Office of Police Accountability and special regional Behavioral Health Response Units. Also, in the spirit of the report, we have a framework for considering additional policies and procedures, even beyond the specifics in the report, as we progress toward a more just, modern and transparent idea of public safety as a whole.”
In 11 meetings, including a session for public input, over more than a month, the Public Safety Committee took a deep dive into the report’s recommendations and the process by which those recommendations were arrived at. The committee heard from Task Force members, including co-chairs Mayo Bartlett and Leroy Fraser as well as the county Department of Public Safety and other law enforcement representatives.
The report itself was the culmination of nearly seven months of work by a 38-member task force, which includes county and local law enforcement professionals, clergy representatives, criminal justice and police reform advocates, human rights professionals, the executive director of the Westchester County Youth Bureau, the executive director of the Westchester County Human Rights Commission, the Westchester County Department of Public Safety commissioner and deputy commissioner, representatives from the Westchester County District Attorney’s office, three Westchester County legislators and other public servants.
The Westchester County executive additionally attached six staff liaisons to the task force in order to ensure that the group had access
to all available resources and assistance.
Under Executive Order 203 from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, all municipalities statewide must adopt a police reform and reimagining plan by the state by April 1. County Executive George Latimer had previously announced plans for a county police reform task force, which he then expanded to address the requirements of the governor’s order.
Read the Westchester County Police Reform and Reimagining Task Force report at:
https://www.westchestergov.com/images/stories/pdfs/policereformreport.pdf.
(Submitted)
