Coalition calls for White Plains police board
WHITE PLAINS - A coalition of civic groups, clergy and fraternal organizations is calling on the city to establish a formal citizens advisory board to meet regularly with police officials to discuss concerns and promote better communication with minority communities.
At a recent Common Council meeting, the Westchester Coalition for Police Reform questioned the transparency of an advisory board that meets quarterly with White Plains Public Safety officials.
"I have emailed (Public Safety Commissioner David Chong) inquiring as to who serves on his advisory group, whether these meetings are open to the public and if the minutes are available to the public," said Nada Khader, executive director of the WESPAC Foundation and a member of the coalition steering committee. "I have not yet received a reply."
Chong did not return a message seeking comment.
White Plains Mayor Tom Roach is willing to meet with coalition members "to hear more about their proposal," said Karen Pasquale, the mayor's senior adviser. That meeting is in the process of being set up, she said.
Khader said the coalition, which formed almost five years ago after the police shooting death of Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. in White Plains, "would like to see representation on the advisory group from the most impacted (public housing) communities, including Winbrook, Lake Street and Ferris Avenue."
The Chamberlain case is now the subject of a $21 million federal lawsuit.
According to the Department of Public Safety's website, the current Public Safety Advisory Board's purpose is to "enhance the partnership" between the department and residents. That's being done, the website says, "by furthering the exchange of information and ideas, promoting harmonious police-community relations and working to improve conditions related to the provision of public safety services to the community."
The site does not identify the advisory board members or say how they were appointed. The official city website does not include the advisory board on its list of official boards and commissions.
The coalition says it wants to see a board that is transparent and promotes police accountability under the guidelines set forth in the final report of President Obama's Task Force on 21st Century Policing, which was released last year.
"The spirit of the request is not meant to be antagonistic," Khader said. "The goal is for better community-police relations."
She noted that a 2012 independent analysis of the police department that was commissioned by the city recommended, among other things, that White Plains purchase cameras that can be slipped under doors to assess the situation inside a home without breaking the door down, as was done in the Chamberlain incident.
"Did the city ever buy that equipment? Are they using it now? An advisory, or oversight board would be the appropriate forum for the public to discuss something like that with the police," Khader said.
"The divisions and breakdown of relations between many communities and their police departments has become viral," said the Rev. Doris Dalton, executive director of the Westchester Martin Luther King Jr. Institute for Nonviolence and convener of the coalition.
For things to improve, she said, "we need to hear from those who are negatively impacted by police encounters, but in many cases right now, they're too afraid. That's something that could be accomplished through a police advisory board."
Common Council member Nadine Hunt-Robinson, who suggested that the coalition discuss its recommendation at a council meeting, said she favors the idea.
"It's something I definitely support," she said. "Our Public Safety Department does a lot of good things -- the Citizens Academy, Police Night Out, etc. I see this proposal as something that would embrace the community policing concepts put forth by President Obama. There is a tension in the African-American and Hispanic communities and we need to reach out in order to ease those tensions."
Hunt-Robinson said she has family members who have been in law enforcement, including her husband, a retired state trooper.
"It's important for people to know that you can be concerned about these issues, and discuss them, without being anti-police," she said. "It's really about developing a relationship between the police and the community that's based on trust, through regular contact."