POUGHKEEPSIE – A Memorandum of Agreement between the City of Poughkeepsie and its police union was approved on an 8-0 vote by the common council Monday night. The MOA extends the current contract for one year.
Details of the agreement were not made public during the meeting.
“I speak for the council when I say that we all regard the proposed body camera policy as an important accomplishment but not a finished program at this time,” Council Chairwoman Ann Finney said. “We are looking forward to seeing the policy implemented and learning from it so that as we prepare for the next round of negotiations, in December, we will be able, ideally, to expand and enhance the proposed policy to something that would be a little broader and a little more detailed.”
During public comment at the start of the meeting, ACLU Hudson Valley Chapter Director Shannon Wong dispelled media reports that they were brought into the discussions on the contract. They weren’t.
Councilwoman Sarah Brannen found that unfortunate.
“I think in the interest of expediency and also given the fact this contract expires at the end of this year, it probably doesn’t make sense to hold this process to pursue a more detailed review of that policy but I do think that should be something that we undertake for the next round.”
Brannen also suggested that in the future, the city administrator and corporation counsel include all relevant documents in the packet given to the council for review.
