Binghamton Final Police Reform Draft Ready for Comment

Binghamton’s Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative has released its final draft of plans to rework police policy days after releasing the independent Finn report on police reform.

Local governments were directed by Governor Andrew Cuomo last year to study the workings of their law enforcement agencies and to come up with plans for reform in the wake of reports of police misconduct and brutality as well as racial disparity.  Those incidents resulted in a summer of protests but incidents of deaths while in custody and allegations of police misconduct continue.

Mayor Richard David thanked the Police Reform & Reinvention Collaborative Steering Committee members and members of the public who participated in the process of developing the plan prior to the April 1 deadline.  The Collaborative held a half dozen community listening sessions in January and February and the 310 draft plan from the independent Finn Institute that was hired by the City to work on the project, was released last week.

David says City Council will have a public hearing March 22 at 6 p.m. while comments are also accepted at BPDcollaborative@cityofbinghamton.com.

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The 2021 Binghamton Police Reform & Reinvention Collaborative plan is available at the City’s website: cityofbinghamton.com on the collaborative’s page along with links to the Finn Report and written testimony submitted during the review.

City Council has to approve a final plan by April 1 or risk losing state funding.