Ossining Announces Plan for Police Reform and Reinvention

OSSINING, NY — Ossining village officials ratified a plan for reforming the police department, after approving most of the recommendations from a working committee of Ossining residents, faith leaders, and police officers.

The effort was part of a statewide mandate issued in June 2020 amid nationwide anti-police brutality protests stemming from the death of George Floyd, who died when a Minneapolis police officer held his knee on Floyd's neck for nearly 9 minutes. SEE: Witness Describes Seeing Floyd 'Slowly Fade Away'

Gov. Andrew Cuomo set an April 1, 2021 deadline for local law enforcement agencies to enact a plan. Those that did not would not be eligible for state funding. "We're not going to be a state government subsidizing improper police practices," he said at the time.

Mayor Rika Levin and Trustees Robert Fritsche, Omar Lopez, Manuel Quezada and Dana White said Tuesday their one regret was not naming more Black men who grew up in Ossining to the committee, something for which they were criticized. SEE: Op-Ed: Ossining's Police Reform Process Isn't Inclusive

"While the Working Committee was composed mostly of people of color, if we could do this all over again, we would include more black men who grew up in Ossining," they said in a letter to residents.

Ossining officials pointed out the village is the only municipality in Westchester County with a Civilian Police Complaint Review Board. "This board is rooted in the racial unrest of decades past, when a group of Ossining citizens was appointed to liaison with the police force. In our report, one-third of the recommendations are designed to enhance the board’s autonomy and oversight powers," they said.

In the announcement, Jennifer Cabrera, current CPCRB chair and a Working Committee member, said "Though some vital recommendations were excluded, this plan includes important steps toward building a more visible, independent, and accessible civilian oversight board. Continued efforts to ensure accountability will be a critical factor in building trust between the Ossining Police Department and members of our community who have not always felt protected by police."

Here are the 29 recommendations approved from the list of 44. To see the full report and the full list of commission members, go to villageofossining.org.

Oversight and Transparency

1. Remove OPD representation on the CPCRB, for a total of five civilian seats with two civilian alternates. To maintain their advisory capacity, OPD will appoint two non-voting Police Department members. Votes would be taken using a simple majority.
2. Edit the definitions of substantiated, unfounded, and unsubstantiated complaints in order to make the distinction clearer and to avoid confusion.
3. Add to the Village Code that Corporation Counsel or their designee is in attendance at every meeting. The Board of Trustees should receive a quarterly update on complaints from the Corporation Counsel or CPCRB chair at a public board meeting.
4. In the post-COVID-19 environment, the CPCRB should retain the ability to hold virtual or hybrid meetings.
5. Add a provision to the code to ensure that records pertaining to the interaction that led to the complaint (such as police reports, bodycam footage, etc.) are retained until the CPCRB has conducted its review and made a determination.
6. The location of CPCRB meetings should be on any Village property.
7. Increase the maximum amount of time an individual has to file a complaint from 90 to 120 days from date of incident.
8. Specify that investigation of complaints will begin within 10 calendar days of the complaint being received and will be concluded within 30 calendar days of receipt, unless OPD submits a written explanation to the CPCRB chairperson.
9. CPCRB member training should be split into two categories: core training, which would be required prior to reviewing complaints, and supplemental training, which must be completed within six months. Core should include use of force, vehicle stops and constitutional issues. All other training should be considered supplemental training.
10. OPD should be responsible for providing all training for the CPCRB. This is a codification of current practice.
11. OPD should make regular reports on a variety of metrics, including traffic stops, arrests, complaints according to demographics.
12. Names and contact info for all police personnel that are ranked lieutenant and above should be listed on the Village / OPD website, in addition to the demographics of OPD personnel overall.
13. The Village should support efforts at the County and State levels to reform indemnification of officers and to eliminate qualified immunity as a defense in civil suits against an OPD defendant.

Policies and Procedures

14. In order to increase transparency and to better inform the public, police department policies should be posted online. In addition, the policy manual should be made available in hard copy (for a copying fee) at the police department or Village Clerk’s office.
15. The department should adopt bias-free and anti-racist policing policies.
16. The police department should work with the LGBTQ+ community to rewrite GO 3.91 and expand on an LGBTQ+ policy.
17. The police department should modify its general orders to include that OPD officers will not respond with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) unless they are called to the location.

Internal Operations and Practices

18.Work with Westchester County, neighboring communities and non-profit agencies to develop a mental health, homeless and substance abuse crisis response unit that responds along with the Police Department and provides follow-up case management.
19. Work with the Village and Police Department and possibly non-profit agencies to create a voluntary response registry which would assist emergency communications and responders.
20. Work with Westchester County to provide officers with crisis intervention training (CIT).
21. Develop a public awareness campaign in both English and Spanish to explain the Police Department’s role with respect to ICE activities in the community.
22. The Village and the Police Department should work together to make a more robust website on the Department, its organization and services.
23. The Ossining Police Department should implement new or improve existing community policing efforts.
24. Utilize existing community resources to better understand how to connect with residents. For example, the LOFT LGBTQ Community Center has conducted training with other local offices and municipalities.

Hiring and Training

25. Work to increase diversity in department hiring and on promotional processes.
26. Start Recruiting Program/Police Department Introduction at Ossining High School.
27. Develop a plan to hire more bilingual officers or encourage fluency.
28. The Police Department should develop a multi-year training plan that includes greater emphasis on anti-racism in policing, de-escalation, procedural justice, added cultural competency and handling protests.
29. The Westchester County Police Academy should be encouraged to implement enhanced training as recommended for Ossining officers.

MORE READING: The Journey of Police Reform