POUGHKEEPSIE – Residents weighed in on the proposal for a Civilian Police Review Board within the City of Poughkeepsie, with a somewhat even distribution of support and opposition. The police union has denounced Council Chair Sarah Salem in the process, including a vote of “no confidence“. The PBA said that Salem is motivated to create the board because the council chair has a pending DWI charge in the city.
At Monday evening’s Common Council meeting, residents favoring the creation of the board submitted they believe having a civilian board will encourage residents with distrust for the police, adding another layer of accountability in addition to body cameras.
City resident Matt Carol said he believes it will encourage those and other residents to participate. “I think it’s going to create a lot of transparency for the community to participate with the police, which is going to help the public identify better with the police, so they can support each other in a productive manner,” said Carol.
Those opposed maintain the city’s police department is not representative of the departments across the country, who’s misconduct and unnecessary force spurred the national outrage against the police.
PBA President Kevin VanWagner was critical of the council, saying in part “Their actions and political alliances have created a false narrative in the belief there is a discourse between the police department and the community that we serve. This has created a hostile work environment and added stress to our officers.”
“We have done training for years that has only just become mandatory for all other agencies,” said City of Poughkeepsie Police Officer Maria Tarcos, referencing the Crisis Intervention training the department took the initiative on.
She continued, “Our department and officers work with, participate in and organize community events. Our officers show up for memorials and have had community meetings prior to COVID. No one speaks of how progressive and ahead of the state and national standards this department has been.”
Another common theme the large majority of the opposition shared was asking that Common Council Chair Sarah Salem recuse herself.
City resident Dawn Roger said that the council’s attempt appears to be a case of “sour grapes” by Salem. “This proposed Civilian Review Board and the actions that would be performed are seriously overstepping boundaries. In a city that already is struggling with financial issues is it prudent to create another “department” to oversee and direct the Police Department? Calling witnesses, conducting interviews, recommending disciplinary actions, sentencing witnesses that fail to appear with jail time, this all goes too far; we already have one Police Department in the city.”
Salem did not address these recurring suggestions but did insist that the legislative process could take a very long time and that the council is committed to continuing to prioritize community input during the process.
“This is just the first step. There will be edits. There will be markups,” said Salem. “We’ve heard from a number of community members, in all different capacities and we will continue to hear from community members. We will continue to solicit input and accept input from community members and other stakeholders in this legislative process, as we do through the legislative process, as is set up,” said Salem.
The first reading of the draft legislation was read Monday evening. A public hearing will follow.
