NEWBURGH – When the City of Newburgh adopted the right to know law, one of its components was for a police officer to just log the date and time of an interaction with a member of the public. That morphed into securing personal information from the individual.
City Manager Joseph Donat told the city council Monday night that following public concerns, they have stopped asking for the additional information.
But, Councilman Omari Shakur, who has been at odds with the police, was highly critical of Chief Arnold Amthor.
“Going forward, we need to see about a new police chief. Listen to our community. If more people were able to speak tonight, they would tell you this man has destroyed our relationship with this community,” he said.
Mayor Torrance Harvey sought to tone down the rhetoric.
“We can disagree with each other and use it in the discourse that we choose in a respectable manner,” he said.
Councilwoman Patty Sofokles, who has known Amthor for years, said he has nothing but good intentions.
As part of the right to know legislation, officers are supposed to carry business cards with them, but that has not happened to date, so the police department was told to have them printed ASAP.
