NEWBURGH – Robert McLymore is a police officer with 19 years under his belt. He is a life-long resident of the City of Newburgh where he serves as the pastor of his own church and is also a lieutenant in the Wallkill Town Police Department adjacent to the City of Middletown.
McLymore took it upon himself months ago to start a dialogue in Newburgh among community leaders, police and residents in an effort to build bridges between law enforcement and the public.
The well-respected public servant has now been retained as a part-time consultant with the City of Newburgh to bring all sides together.
His first priority will be to listen to the concerns of the residents.
“We are going to sit down and we are going to talk about these things and see how we can resolve the issues as well as going out into the community and come up with programs and plans that are possible for the chief of police to implement that we could utilize to build that bridge and be more interactive with the community, know the residents, talk to the residents. Get out there and involve themselves with the residents,” he said.
McLymore also said police departments must become more diverse and that starts with African Americans and Hispanics taking civil service tests to qualify for the jobs.
