Committee on Police Reform
On June 12, 2020, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo issued Executive Order 203, requiring each local government in the State adopt a policing reform plan by no later than April 1, 2021. The purpose, as cited from the New York State Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative, Resources & Guide for Public Officials and Citizens, is “to foster trust, fairness and legitimacy within communities throughout our State and to address any racial bias and disproportionate policing of communities of color.”
This reform effort is aimed at rebuilding the community’s relationship with their local police force by creating an honest dialogue about public safety needs by:
- Creating a collaborative police reform committee intended to evaluate current department policies and procedures;
- Establish new policies, where applicable, allowing police to effectively and safely perform their duties;
- Involve the community in the discussion and through the entire process;
- Develop recommendations that have resulted from the review;
- Offer a plan that has been provided to the public for comment, adopt the plan at the legislative level; and
- Certify the plan and its content to the New York State Budget Director on or before April 1, 2021.
Click the picture to get a copy of the final plan.
Public Input
Email your comments and concerns: policereform@alleganyco.gov
Address a letter to: Police Reform Committee, Room 213, 7 Court Street, Belmont, NY 14813
Public comments on the draft plan are officially closed. However, the final plan is available for public viewing and comments related to the Allegany County Sheriff’s Office Police Reform process can still be provided by email or through mail.
- County Administrator – Develop and present a reform plan to the County Legislature for ratification and subsequently submit certification to the governor’s office.
- Sheriff – Responsible to ensure a reform plan is developed for the Sheriff’s Office and shall submit the plan to the Legislature for ratification & certification. Assist and drive the County opt-in partners to customize their own police reforms.
- Team Members – Serve as ambassadors of this initiative to individual communities. Attend meetings and represent the interests of their organization and community by actively providing input towards recommendations.
- General Public – Attend public forums, respond to the survey and provide your input.
- The meeting was broadcast live and can be found at this link: Facebook video. Please note that if you missed the forum but are still interested in providing public comment you can do so by sending an email to policereform@alleganyco.gov.
- Draft minutes have been provided as a summary of the discussion
- The presentation that was given during the forum can also be found here with updated information related to statistics from the Allegany County Sheriff’s Office.
General demographics can be accessed by visiting: https://www.criminaljustice.ny.gov/crimnet/ojsa/stats.htm.
Crimes identified by department in Allegany County are shown below. The PDF can be accessed here.
