FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 8, 2020
City of Kingston
Enacts Police Accountability Guidelines and Forms Re-envision Public Safety
Task Force
KINGSTON, NY – Today Mayor Steven T. Noble
signed resolution for Police Accountability guidelines, which was unanimously
passed by the Common Council on Tuesday night. The legislation includes:
transparent guidelines for the appointment process of the Police Commission;
creating training requirements for the Commissioners; and improving the
Commission’s complaint process.
“I am so pleased to sign this police
accountability legislation today, and I want to thank the Common
Council for all their dedication and perseverance to make this happen,” said
Mayor Noble. “We have, as a community, come together to create what I think
will be meaningful change. This is a step forward toward
transparency and trust, and I look forward to working with the Police
Commission to implement these common-sense changes. I also want to thank Chief
Tinti was has been supportive of accountability measures, and to the Kingston
Police Department for their willingness to work with their community toward
positive change.”
Chair of the Common Council’s Special
Policing Committee, Alderwoman Rita Worthington said, “I am delighted that the
Police Accountability/Guidelines and Procedures for our Policing Commission has
finally passed! A lot of hard work and dedication was put into this initiative
and with the help of fellow Special Policing Committee members, Alderman
Jeffrey Ventura Morell and Rennie Scott-Childress, grass roots organizations,
and community input, we are moving forward with tangible change that will in
turn improve community/police relations. While we know this is not the end all
to dismantling ingrained systematic racism, it is a first step toward that
goal.”
In order to begin creating a more diverse
Police Commission, Mayor Noble recently appointed Minya DeJohnette, an
acupuncturist with a master’s degree in Health Sciences, to the vacant seat on
the commission. At the June meeting, the Police Commission voted to release the
Kingston Chief of Police from duties as the commission’s secretary, and will
appoint a vice chair and secretary from the existing commission members. The
Mayor serves as the chair of the Police Commission.
Additionally, Mayor Noble, in cooperation
with the Common Council and the community, is in the process of creating the
“Re-envision Public Safety Task Force” to further address law
enforcement-community relations, use-of-force policies, procedural justice,
systemic racial bias, and practices that may contribute to racial disparity in
the community, among other issues.
In accordance with Governor Cuomo’s Executive
Order, the task force 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, for the purposes of addressing the
particular needs of the communities served by such police agency and promote
community engagement to foster trust, fairness, and legitimacy, and to address
any racial bias and disproportionate policing of communities of color.”
The Re-envision Public Safety Task Force
will review and collect new, innovative recommendations and modernizations and
provide a concrete plan, which will be presented to the public for comment, and
which must be ratified by April 1, 2021.
“Part of making real change is being able
to dismantle ideas and concepts that we’ve previously taken for granted,” said
Mayor Noble. “I commend the Governor for asking each municipality to take a
long look at how policing is done in our own communities, and to boldly rethink
what is best for all who we serve and protect.”
More information and updates can be found
at https://kingston-ny.gov/policeaccountability