NEW ROCHELLE, NY — A report containing a set of recommendations by a “police review” committee limped into the City Council chambers tonight and promptly died on the conference table.
The latest version of community members attempts to overhaul the New Rochelle Police Department is the New Rochelle Police Review Committee (“PRC”), a group appointed by City Manager Charles B. Strome on August 11, 2020, under a mandate from New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Most of the recommendations were half-baked, insipid, uninformed, financial, or legally unworkable; in many cases, the ideas were long-ago superseded by facts on the ground. One member stressed that the committee did not support “defunding the police”.
One idea was to investigate allegations of aggressive ticketing practices. Another was the commissioning of a study to “determine whether alternate side of the street parking is in fact required for street cleaning purposes”. Still, another was to train ex-cons, otherwise known as “formerly incarcerated community members with street credibility”, to mediate disturbances and disputes among juveniles.
TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE JUMP OVER TO robertcox.substack.com