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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2021_01_21 Racial Equity Taskforce Minutes Minutes of the Racial Equity Task Force of the Town of Mamaroneck Held January 21, 2021 at 7:00 pm, via Zoom Present: Jeffery King (Town Council member, Chairman), Sabrina Fiddelman (Town Council member), Helen Horsham-Bertels, Diana Lovett, Andrew Tannenbaum, Stephen Altieri (Town Administrator), Paul Creazzo (Chief of Police), Lindsey Luft (Assistant to the Town Administrator) Chairman King called the meeting to order. New Business 1. NYS Police Reform and Reinvention-Community Survey and Review The Task Force discussed the responses to the survey. It was agreed we would need to draw conclusions about responses now in advance of the closing of the survey in order not to hold up the timetable for forwarding our recommendations to the Town Board. We will leave the survey open to collect as many responses as possible and use the final results to inform our work moving forward. Responses were overall very positive about the police department. It was noted, however, that responses did vary quite a bit with the race and ethnicity of the respondent. Residents of color had more concerns about both the Police and the behavior of their neighbors than did white residents. It is apparent that Police involvement is sometimes precipitated by members of the community for no reason other than the race/ethnicity of a person on the street. There does seem to be support for the creation of a citizen review board although there was not consensus on specific form or duties. The under 40 population of the community is underrepresented in survey responses. 2. Review of Recommendations as input into Google Doc The Task force spent the remainder of the meeting discussing and finalizing recommendations to be sent to the Town board. We will continue to do so in our next meeting. The next scheduled meeting of the Town of Mamaroneck Racial Equity Task Force will be held on Monday, January 23, 2021 at 7:00pm via Zoom. Chairman King thanked all participants and closed the meeting.