NEWBURGH – The City of Newburgh’s Police Community Relations and Review Board is continuing with its mission despite the recent abrupt retirement of Police Chief Arnold Amthor.
Board Chairwoman Sertaira Boyd said the board is still new and cannot afford to let the resignation of the chief affect their operation.
“This board will be up and functional still. We just got up and functional. We’re not about to dismantle because of the resignation of a chief,” said Boyd. “The community has complaints. They need to be addressed and heard, so there won’t be any type of separation of the board. We will go forward and have someone acting,” she said.
The acting person Boyd refers to is the liaison to the board, who was formally Amthor. Currently, Lt. Kevin Lahar is occupying that role in Amthor’s absence. Lahar said he is working on issues like the distribution of right-to-know cards, which are issued to anyone stopped by police in the city and has that particular officer’s information on it. It is essentially a business card. He is also working on the reintroduction of ride-alongs for board members, pending COVID restrictions and the introduction of a new body camera system for city police officers.
