By David Tyler
The town of DeWitt will host a series of public forums on systemic injustice beginning with a session scheduled for Sept. 24 at 6:30 p.m. at town hall.
Future forums will be held on a quarterly basis, and smaller information gathering sessions will be scheduled throughout the town.
The town board was recently presented with a petition signed by 90 residents encouraging the town to adopt a variety of new policies related to policing, hiring, and expansion of opportunities for people of color.
Among the suggested action items were hiring a social worker to work alongside police on certain emergency calls; transparency for police department actions, especially use-of-force actions; an equity audit of the town’s hiring practices; redirecting funding from the police to lead abatement and recreation programs as well as universal Pre-K; and providing quarterly bias training.
East Genesee Street resident Ruth Arena, who sent the petition to the town board, was in attendance at Monday night’s town board meeting and encouraged the board to make the public sessions welcoming and accessible to all residents, particularly those that might feel intimidated to speak out regarding these issues.
“We’re looking at you as an ally on a number of these issues,” Supervisor Ed Michalenko told Arena. He encouraged her to help spread the word that the town is seeking input.
He and other members of the board also acknowledged that not all of the requests laid out in the petition are cut and dry.
“For all the years I’ve been on the police commission, I’ve been banging the drum about diversifying the police force,” said Councilor Kerin Rigney, who added that the town is often “handcuffed” by the civil service process.
Michalenko said that he favors the idea of having social workers and mental health professionals work alongside police, but there is currently no mechanism for the 911 system to delineate between a call that requires a uniformed officer and call that should be handled by a social worker.
“What you don’t want to do is send a social worker into a situation that becomes violent,” he said. “There are grey areas that are very complicated.”
The town board also passed a resolution authorizing the DeWitt Police Commission to undertake a “review and assessment of its police department and police operations,” in accordance with Gov. Cuomo’s recent executive order. Police Chief Chase Bilodeau said the department will also work with Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick, who is helping local municipal police agencies comply with the executive order.
Following the review and assessment process, the police commission will make recommendations “including any proposed modifications, innovations and modernizations to our police practices, policies and procedures.”
