Westchester Coalition for Police Reform Calls for Government Accountability
Members of the Westchester Coalition for Police Reform gathered on the steps of the County office building in White Plains Friday to ask County Executive Rob Astorino for increased government accountability when police officers are involved in fatal shooting incidents.
Expressing frustration over what they call a lack of proper response on the part of the County District Attorney’s office in the shooting deaths of minority persons in the county in recent years, especially because no police officers have been indicted in any of the instances, coalition members speaking at the rally said they want the county to establish independent oversight structures with subpoena power.
These independent actions would include the review and investigation of the policies and practices of law enforcement agencies as well as the investigation of cases of police misconduct, with the authority to propose sanctions.
The coalition also called for the appointment of a special state prosecutor when local government agencies fail to act.
In the case of Kenneth Chamberlain Sr., a former member of the U.S. Marine Corps. corrections officer and White Plains resident, members of the Chamberlain family and coalition members say that after viewing video as well as audio tapes of the several hours long confrontation between Chamberlain and White Plains police officers that responded to the medical emergency call, Chamberlain’s death was a direct result of escalation by the police.
Representatives from the White Plains and Greenburgh Branch of the NAACP, Port Chester/Rye Branch of the NAACP, Westchester Rising, Blacks in Law Enforcement of America, Lower Hudson Valley Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union, Wespac, Anti Racist Alliance, MLK Institute for Nonviolence, and members of the clergy called upon Astorino on Friday to take action by sharing police training across communities in the county so that best practices could be discussed and learned from.
They also proposed a review of protocols within all police departments addressing the use of force continuum as well as the proper handling of emotionally troubled individuals with an emphasis on deescalating confrontations without resorting to force.
Other points included an increase in outreach to recruit police officers from a larger pool more reflective of the communities in which they serve as well as the promotions of more minority officers.
The centralization of service police training was viewed as a way to make police policies more transparent to the general public and financially more cost effective.
Coalition leaders said they were pursuing these goals with local legislators.
