Police Reform 2020: Local officials kick-off 'Community Voices Public Forums' series

ITHACA, N.Y. — Tompkins County and the City of Ithaca debuted the “Community Voices Public Forums” series Friday as part of their Reimagining Public Safety Collaborative.

Its launch marks the transition to the next phase of the partnership, which encourages Ithaca and Tompkins County residents to offer input toward the development of an equitable plan to reimagine public safety. The live-streamed forum began with remarks from Tompkins County Administrator Jason Molino who then invited the public to share their perspectives on and experiences with public safety in Tompkins County.

Molino said that the County is in the information gathering stage of the process and is continuing to seek community feedback to inform the plan. Officials from the County and City, including Mayor Svante Myrick, and working group members tuned in while the community provided feedback in 2-minute increments.

Nearly 20 County and City residents spoke at Friday’s forum. Suggestions ranged from defunding of police to reconsidering the role of police officers in responding to mental health emergencies and domestic violence calls. Others demanded increased transparency between local police and the public.

Among the speakers was Genevieve Rand, a trans woman who was one of six protestors arrested on Oct. 22 during a demonstration outside Ithaca Police Department headquarters. Rand has been outspoken since her arrest, claiming IPD Deputy Chief Vincent Monticello and other officers refused to address her by her first name during the incident and repeatedly misgendered her –– referring to Rand as “this guy” several times. During the forum, she explicitly directed her comments at the public and encouraged them to remain vigilant.

“We’ve been doing forums like these as a country for decades… and it has not worked,” Rand said. “I want to ask everybody who’s in attendance today to not let these meetings be the valve where you blow off all of your steam, where you let all of the frustration that you have at the way the policing has been increasing in militarization, has increased in funding and increased in the rate of incarceration over the last few decades.”

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Local resident Kate Leboff, who has been involved in the local racial justice movement in past months, also spoke referencing the arrest of Messia White-Saunders. On Oct. 22, Monticello and his fellow officers arrested White-Saunders on the basis of obstruction –– video shows White-Saunders involved in a verbal altercation with another man who tells protestors to kill themselves and “just die already.” Leboff and others have claimed that the man seen in the video was brandishing a knife earlier in the argument.

Following her speech, Leboff presented a petition calling for Monticello’s resignation, which now has over 1,500 signatures.

White-Saunders arrest has garnered attention not only from the public, but also city officials. Shortly after his arrest and subsequent public outrage, Mayor Myrick addressed the petition, saying in a statement that he is in the process of requesting a state-level review of the incidents that occurred on Oct. 22.

Many of Friday’s speakers echoed the nationwide clarion call to “defund the police” and create a radically new version of law enforcement. Residents shared their vision of what public safety could look like locally — including redirecting municipal funds to facilitate community-oriented crisis intervention programs that reduce crime at the source and demilitarization of the police that creates unnecessary violence.

One suggestion to reduce crime was funding preventative initiatives like in-patient housing for those recovering from substance use disorders to combat communal recidivism.

“I myself have been in the Tompkins County legal system for 10 years of my life as a white privileged male; I saw what it was like to go through the system without having support,” Ithacan Gideon Casper said. “I think defunding money should be used to provide halfway houses… in Tompkins County.”

In addition to halfway houses, others suggested crisis intervention programs that would inject social workers, psychologists and other professionals to administer a specialized response to community emergencies.

“These calls now almost always result in a police response with guns, tasers and handcuffs,” one resident said. “These professionals can put together a plan to deescalate problematic situations and connect people to community resources based on care and support—not enforcement and a likely arrest.”

In addition to the need for more social workers and treatment programs, County residents also questioned the status quo of who holds power in law enforcement and who is best positioned to carry out justice.

“We need to ask ourselves: who are the best people to respond to these types of situations?” one attendee, Leon Miller-Out said.

That sentiment was echoed by resident Megan Cosgrove who spoke to the specialized needs of domestic abuse survivors.

“When we are in fear for our lives and our safety and our children’s safety, calling the police is one of the farthest things from our minds because we know that they will not help us,” Cosgrove said. “Most of the time, and it’s not a situation that police are equipped to deal with until it has become a situation where harm [has] already happened.”

The other major topic of discussion during Friday’s forum was the next steps for police reform. There is a hard deadline for change as the County and City have been working with the Center for Policing Equity following an executive order issued in August by Governor Andrew Cuomo requiring all municipalities with police departments in New York State to adopt a plan for police reform by April 1, 2021.

One example of what could be next is modeling the IPD after the Camden New Jersey Police Department who made headlines last year for their major overhaul in policing. Mayor Myrick met with former New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram in an Oct. 29 forum where she discussed the changes to the profession.

Suggestions from the public included granting oversight committees like the Ithaca Community Police Board with the authority to make decisions about police conduct as a possible solution, as well as asking law enforcement to be accountable and transparent..

Departments across the country have been trying to thin the Blue Wall of Silence—the notion that a code of silence exists among police officers to conceal evidence of corruption. One person posited that the County hire a public liaison versed in Freedom of Information Law (FOIL).

To end, county Administrator Molino outlined the agenda for the next month of forums–– including both focus groups to hear from the public and possibly law enforcement officers in addition to. working groups with city and county experts and officials discussing administration, data analysis, research, communications and law enforcement.

Forums similar to Friday are set to continue on a weekly basis, every Friday through Dec. 4 with the exception of Nov. 27. The next Community Voices forum will be held via Zoom on Friday, Nov. 13 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. and on Saturday, Nov. 14 at 10:30 a.m. Members of the community are encouraged to participate by registering for the Zoom webinars in advance.

If you are interested in making your voice heard regarding police reform, but can’t make it to the public forums, additional opportunities for community input are available and are listed below.

• Fill out this online form

• Leave a voice mail with input by calling 607-274-5465

• Submit a paper input form. Download here or pick up at the Tompkins County Public Library (Starting November 5)

• Mail a letter with Attn: Reimagining Public Safety to 125 E. Court St. Ithaca, N.Y.

• Drop Off suggestion to the Mayor’s Listening Post (Mailbox) at 108 E. Green St. ​Ithaca, N.Y. or to the Tompkins County Drop Box at 125 E. Court St. ​Ithaca, N.Y.

For community members that would like to engage in the online feedback or watch the forums and don’t have access to a computer, the Tompkins County Public Library is offering hours at computer stations starting Thursday Nov. 5. The library is located at 101 E. Green St, Ithaca, NY 14850, Tuesdays and Thursdays 10 a.m to 1 p.m., and Saturdays 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Again, a timeline of the reimagining public safety process, a list of working group members, and details on how the community can submit input are available online, and on this downloadable paper input form.

Members of the community who would like to receive updates on the process and announcements of future community forums via email can fill out this online form to recieve updates directly to their inbox.

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The article first appeared in The Ithaca Voice.