Cameron,
a veteran officer recently elevated to the post of Chief,
listens closely to the input
NEWBURGH – “Strengthening Community and Police Relations” was the topic of a forum in Newburgh Thursday evening.
A panel of members from the city’s police department, Orange County DA’s office and Newburgh Exodus program discussed topics including recent violence, a new program for mitigating group violence, police relations and police body cameras.
“Aligning ourselves with the community has been our focus since January,” said Police Chief Daniel Cameron. “That could be just attending meetings, that could be just shaking hands while you’re walking on foot post and I’ve seen a big difference already and I routinely get people coming up to me saying they’ve seen the officers on foot patrol and it’s been great and they talk to them and the officers enjoy it as well.”
Attendees seemed to be discouraged that the turnout of this forum was low, but the residents there still had many suggestions for forward progress within the city.
Suggestions ranged from contingency in the event officers try to manipulate body camera footage, to getting more community religious leaders involved, to having the police department involved in protecting information former/ retired officers put up on social media.
A general theme that has surfaced often is the chronic joblessness in the city and how to get the city’s youth to understand an honest living is more desirable than criminal enterprise since, many members of the community believe, it begins with the youth.
Victor Michael, a member of Newburgh Exodus, which helps released convicts attain skills and jobs, said the youth need to understand that the allure of being a “gangster” is superficial in nature and that there is much they do not understand about living that type of life.
“One of the things that these drug lords, drug dealers and those individuals that are committing robberies on the street don’t tell these young individuals is that it’s a possibility that you can go to prison and get your whole manhood taken away from you with the blink of an eye; all your rights are deprived,” said Michael. “You can get killed in that environment, you know, all your rights, all the respect is gone and you can actually lose your mind in that environment. So, it’s far beyond scared straight, it’s a reality that they need to be shown in terms of the consequences of those types of activities.”
The city police department, DA’s office and community participants see these forums as being a useful tool for communication and aligning all parties involved with a common goal. The next forum has not been officially scheduled but, it has been decided that it will definitely occur in October.
Interested members of the community can contact the Newburgh Free Library, Newburgh Exodus or the city police for more information.
