Tell the Poughkeepsie Mayor and Common Council to enact police reform NOW!

Mayor Rob Rolison and the Common Council

To all residents and frequent visitors to the City Poughkeepsie: now is the time to act!

Tell the Mayor and Common Council to enact substantive police reform before Governor Cuomo’s April 1 deadline!

Recently, Mayor Rob Rolison and Police Chief Tom Pape presented the police department’s EO 203 plan to the Common Council (see the video of the presentation here in Part 2, at minute 14). Unfortunately, after a careful review of the city’s plan, ENJAN believes that these proposals fall short of the meaningful police reform and police reinvention that large swaths of the public are demanding and that are called for in the executive order.

Help ensure police reform by signing this petition. Encourage your fellow residents and friends to sign as well!
Sponsored by
Enjan_logo_mini
ENJAN (End the New Jim Crow Action Network)
Poughkeepsie, NY

To: Mayor Rob Rolison and the Common Council
From: [Your Name]

To Mayor Rolison and the Members of the Poughkeepsie Common Council:

We, the city residents and frequent visitors to the City of Poughkeepsie, demand meaningful and substantive police reform!

While the police department’s plan puts forward some good ideas, it does not go far enough in providing police reinvention!

We thus call on you to enact the following additional reforms:

1) Commit to greater transparency and accountability. Require the police department to publish quarterly Police Statistics and Transparency (STAT) Act reports on the gender identity, race, ethnicity, national origin and age of individuals who are stopped, interviewed, or arrested as well as statistics on the use of force incidents, complaints, and disciplinary actions taken by the department. (For more information on the STAT act, see the following link: https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/brad-hoylman/senator-hoylmans-police-stat-act-goes-effect)

2) Revise police policies. Too many policies that affect our communities — use of force, de-escalation, and body-worn and vehicle-mounted cameras — contain loopholes that make it impossible to hold police accountable. Require the police department to live up to the principles of procedural justice by holding community forums on these policies and use that feedback to revise them.

3) Overhaul the CPPD’s disciplinary matrix. The Rules of Conduct should be updated to include penalties for:

•any form of biased-based policing or racial profiling by any member of the CPPD.
•the failure of any member of the CPPD to report biased-based behavior or any other inappropriate behavior.
•the failure of any member to adhere to the Right to Know Act.
•inappropriate Use of Force by any member of the CPPD.
•the failure of any member of the CPPD to report inappropriate Use of Force.

4) Implement an Early Intervention System (EIS) for early identification and prevention of problematic and dangerous behavior. The EIS program must contain practices for reviewing complaints by colleagues, complaints by civilians, use of force incidents, number of arrests and summonses issued with particular consideration given to demographic data, and body camera and dashboard camera footage audits viewed within the lens of all elements of procedural justice.

5) Implement a Civilian Review Board (CRB) with the power to investigate complaints of excessive force and racial bias and refer cases against officers to the trial commission provided for in the city’s charter.

6) Improve anti-racist training by having police officers attend Undoing Racism Workshops with residents of the city.