FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 22, 2021

Proposed Agency Plan for Police Reform and Reinvention Posted

Public Comment Period Opens

New City, NY, - Pursuant to State of New York Executive Order 203, Rockland County Executive Edwin J. Day, and Rockland County Sheriff Louis Falco III jointly present the Proposed Agency Plan for Police Reform and Reinvention Regarding the Rockland County Sheriff’s Patrol. The draft Plan is now available to the public for review and comment on www.RocklandGov.com.

Members of the community are encouraged to submit comments related to the plan solely applicable to the Rockland County Sheriff’s Office for consideration by March 5, 2021, at 5:00 PM, by email to policeplan@co.rockland.ny.us, by mail by sending comments to Police Plan, 55 New Hempstead Road, New City, NY 10956, or in person at the same address.

After consideration of the public’s input, the final Plan will be presented to the Rockland County Legislature as a Resolution for adoption prior to April 1, 2021, as required by the Governor’s Executive Order.

The draft Plan being presented follows a period of collaboration with community stakeholders and representatives. Invitations were sent to 50 non-profit organizations inviting them to participate in a conversation focused on a comprehensive review of the Sheriff’s Office. The Stakeholders spent countless hours during the months of October and November speaking with and interviewing representatives from these different community organizations and held two additional virtual open forums to receive input from any interested persons in Rockland County.

“As a result of their exceedingly hard work, a report and recommendations have been prepared for your consideration and provide a plan to improve policing in the Sheriff’s Office by increasing transparency, building trust, and promoting greater dialogue on enhancing public safety with the many people and organizations that make up Rockland County,” said Rockland County Sheriff Louis Falco III.

Both County Executive Day and Sheriff Falco want to thank Collaborative Commission Chairman Grant Valentine, Vice Chair L’Tanya Watkins, Vice Chair Kevin Barrett, and all of the community stakeholders and representatives who participated in the development of this plan.

“The thoughtful input from and honest dialog with these parties will lead to a stronger relationship between police and the community,” said County Executive Ed Day. “We encourage residents to take this opportunity to review and comment on the draft Plan before it is submitted to the County Legislature.”

Based upon public input, the draft Plan focuses on seven main topics: (1) Community Policing; (2) Civil Service Reform; (3) Recruiting a Diverse Workforce; (4) Improve Police Training; (5) Cooperative Community Services; (6) Allocation of Resources; and (7) Civilian Complaints.

Background Info:

State of New York Executive Order 203 required that each local government entity which has a police agency operating with police officers to perform a comprehensive review of current police force deployments, strategies, policies, procedures, and practices, and develop a plan to improve such deployments, strategies, policies, procedures, and practices, for the purposes of addressing the particular needs of the communities served by such police agency.

The order further required, each chief executive of such local government shall convene the head of the local police agency, and stakeholders in the community to develop such plan, which shall consider evidence-based policing strategies, including but not limited to, use of force policies, procedural justice; any studies addressing systemic racial bias or racial justice in policing; implicit bias awareness training; de-escalation training and practices; law enforcement assisted diversion programs; restorative justice practices; community-based outreach and conflict resolution; problem-oriented policing; hot spots policing; focused deterrence; crime prevention through environmental design; violence prevention and reduction intervention; model policies and guidelines promulgated by the New York State Municipal Police Training Council; and standards promulgated by the New York State Law Enforcement Accreditation Program.

County Executive Day delegated Sheriff Falco III with the responsibility to call together the stakeholders and confer with them about the plan. This was due to the fact that it is the policies of his office that are impacted by the process required by the Governor. County Executive Day also asked that the ultimate report be prepared by the Sheriff’s office.