Southampton Creates New Community Policing Task Force

SOUTHAMPTON, NY — Southampton Town has created a new community policing task force to review police practices and make recommendations.

The Community Law Enforcement Review Committee was created after. Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order in June mandating that all police departments in the state embrace reform and community policing. Cuomo threatened to revoke state funding for agencies that do not adhere.

That mandate came after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May. Protesters have taken to the streets, many lying on the ground or kneeling for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the amount of time that Floyd begged for help and his mama as a police officer pressed his knee into his neck until he died.

"Events in recent months have focused national attention on police practices," Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman wrote in a letter to prospective task force members. "Several years ago the Southampton Town Police Department began an internal review of all of our police procedures, including our 'use of force' policy, to ensure that our policing protocols were optimal, unbiased, and respectful of human dignity."

Every day, Schneiderman said, the town's police officers work to keep residents and visitors safe, and the town continues to modernize the police department with new training and technologies.

"Of course, successful community policing efforts require a dialogue with the community itself," Schneiderman said. "With that in mind, and in keeping with a recent mandate from our governor, Police Chief Steve Skrynecki and I are seeking to establish a community policing task force to review our progress and make recommendations to further improve our department."

Schneiderman, who will serve as chairman of the new committee, said he is seeking to bring together a group of key stakeholders in the community.

The first meeting of the new committee is slated to take place on Sept. 9.

Dr. James Banks, current chairperson of the Southampton Anti-Bias Task Force, said he looks forward to convening. He said in recent days, he believes there have been concerns and some distrust between police and the community. "One resident spoke of an officer going onto his property because of suspicion and the resident felt violated and the encroachment unwarranted," Banks said.

That's why a dialogue with community stakeholders is critical, Banks said. "I hope this will be a trust developing, department massaging, changing-for-the-better process, that will ensure community policing and accountability — not just law enforcement," he said.

Schneiderman said since he took office, he and Skrynecki have looked at all sorts of policing issues in terms of best practices. "The use of force policy has been on everyone's radar for a long time. But yes, it has certainly been more in the forefront after George Floyd's death."

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone has said the county has served as a national model.

"We look forward to working with the state on the issues the governor mentioned, including community policing and anti-bias training," Bellone said.

The Suffolk County Police Department, Bellone said, has been working for many years to develop a leading edge anti-bias training program; individuals at the police academy and in the department are trained as well as other government officials, he said.

That training, Bellone said, has been utilized by the U.S. Department of Justice as a "national model to train other departments around the country."

He added, in reference to the death of George Floyd that has led to scores of protests countywide, most without incident: "The police procedures you have seen in Minneapolis are not utilized here. That is not part of how we police."

However, Bellone added: "There is never a point where you don't need improvement, where you've reached a point where you don't get better. That doesn't exist. You can always strive to get better."

The governor's extraordinary executive order comes amid nationwide anti-police brutality protests stemming from the death Floyd.

Cuomo said the state is launching the "NYS Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative" and the state's 500 police agencies and local governments must develop a plan that "reinvents and modernizes" police strategies and programs in their community. Not only must they implement reforms, police departments will have to do so with community participation.

The governor set an April 1 deadline for enacting a plan by local law to be eligible to receive state funding. He added those that fail to do so are "not going be eligible for state funding, period."
"We're not going to be a state government subsidizing improper police practices," he said.

In Southampton, Schneiderman said the town has already engaged in community-based policing and has actively worked to build dialogue with various sectors of the minority population, working with Organización Latino-Americana, faith-based organizations, and others.

In addition, activists, law enforcement personnel, community leaders, the town's anti-bias task force, and others have also been asked to join the new task force, Schneiderman said.

"We can always do more but the decision to assemble this committee reflects the governor's mandate," the supervisor said.

Those asked to participate or to serve have been sought, Schneiderman said, "because we believe your voice is important in terms of helping to inform our decisions and our policies in the police department. And also because we believe that you will help foster a dialogue with the community and solicit additional community input that could help better our department. Not only do we value your knowledge but we also want you to be a vehicle for getting others to participate in the process."

While Schneiderman said he believes "in many ways, we are a model department, there is always room for improvement. Having this cohesion with the community can only make us a better department."