Zoom via Saratoga Springs City Council (2021)
Winston Grady-Willis
The Saratoga Springs Police Reform Task Force was not about white people. The task force was formed under an executive order from Governor Andrew Cuomo in response to the killings of unarmed Black and African-American men, and he lists many of their names in his order.
Daesha Harris urged the all-white Saratoga Springs City Council to see it that way. She spoke during public comment on a resolution about police reform in the city.
"It never ceases to amaze me how white people continue to center themselves in a conversation that is not about them,” she said on Zoom. The police are not alone in the need for reform. The city council and even the library must reform.
"Every single institution in this city, in this nation, has to do the reform," she said.
She and Kristen Dart were members of the task force and both highlighted the idea that they were two of eight black people on it, the first majority-black task force in the city’s history.
They also called into question Police Chief Shane Crook's report “Community Stakeholder Responses,” saying that as task force members they were not able to add or edit questions before it had been sent out. In the cover letter on the report Chief Crooks said that the task force had decided they had no interest in talking to the community stakeholders to whom he reached out. It is one of many points of contention coming out in the aftermath of the report.
Dart said, "It's really disappointing to hear that the police department did not feel engaged." This was especially true since the chief was a member of the task force. She believes he could have said something but did not. She said, "To be called out in this way is really unfortunate."
Task force member Winston Grady-Willis said a letter from the task force sent to the council was disregarded. In it, members asked why the chief’s report was given such a prominent position on the city-run task force web page. The task force agreed that if people had a strong opposition, “they could formally submit a minority report." He encouraged the council to explain who decided to put it there and why the council did not respond to the letter.
Lexis Figuereo, a local activist who has been vocal about police reform, especially as he works to force the city council to implement a civilian review board, said he is in his 30s now, but has gotten hassled by police since he was a child. He said, "I didn't feel safe enough to put in complaints."
A review board would be a place where the community could feel safe to speak, he said.
He reiterated what he and others said: if the city does not make real change, he and others will work to shut down the city this summer and to hurt the economy, even during track season this August.
Ultimately, the city council voted to forward a resolution to Cuomo’s office that requires the city to create an advisory committee to look at forming a Civilian Review Board, but does not require the CRB to be formed. The city attorney, Vincent DeLeonardis has said there are too many legal hurdles for the creation to be definite.
The only board member to speak before the vote last night was Commissioner of Finance, Michele Madigan, who said she appreciated all the work the task force completed, especially Harris and Dart, whom she nominated to the committee. She told everyone that the city is at the start of a nationwide process to reinvent policing in our society.
She did not understand why there was so much acrimony, when the council clearly will take up the issue of the CRB starting in June, she said. The resolution requires the council to follow a plan laid out in Section Five of the resolution.
She said the resolution was excellent but not perfect, but she asked the community to please stop attacking the board.
“I’m coming to ruin your economy? I’m coming to ruin your racing season? That doesn’t hurt me personally. That hurts everyone,” she said. “I think words matter and making demands and threats is not listening or collaborating.”
She said she will plan to work on the next steps.
“If you do not like what we are doing and want to threaten and demand, well then, I’ll be planning for budget transfers for police overtime services to handle all the protesting,” she said adding that this was for safety reasons.
She said the tens of thousands of dollars that it will cost could have gone toward implementing the plan.
For coverage of the full vote last night, click here.
The Saratoga Springs Police Reform task force report, the resolutions and other reports can be found on the city’s website. Read more here.
For our coverage of the task force, read more here.