Supervisor’s Report – January 14, 2021
Happy New Year!!! 2020 was an extremely difficult year in many ways; I’m optimistic that things will get better in 2021.
The Town of East Greenbush has formed a Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative pursuant to Governor Cuomo’s Executive Order #203. This Executive Order mandates that any municipality with its own police agency must form a group (the Collaborative) which will “perform a comprehensive review of current police force deployments, strategies, policies, procedures and practices, and develop a plan to improve such deployments, strategies, policies, procedures and practices.” The East Greenbush Collaborative includes two elected officials, the Chief and Assistant Chief of Police, and six members of the community with varying backgrounds in law enforcement, the law, the court system, and mental health services delivery.
Although the terms “reform” and “reinvention” appear in the title, we want to make it clear that we’re very proud of the East Greenbush Police Department. And while we know that a review of this nature can yield positive results we don’t see this is part of an effort to “defund the police” or paint a negative picture of EGPD. What we do want is your help in understanding the role our police department plays in the community, and any reflections you may have on interactions with the department. Thus we are asking that you to take a few minutes to complete the ‘Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative – Community Survey.’ The results of this survey will help ensure that the community’s voice is heard in the preparation of the Plan.
Meetings of the Collaborative are held by remote means on Tuesday evenings at 6:00 p.m. Consult the Town website for further details. If you can’t find the survey, call the Supervisor’s Office at 518-477-4775.