Medina committee on police reform will take public comments on Wednesday

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 21 September 2020 at 6:40 pm

MEDINA — A committee looking at policies of the Medina Police Department will take comments from the public during a meeting on Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Medina Theater, 603 Main St.

The Medina Committee on Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative was formed last month to review the operations of the Medina PD and determine if reform is needed.

The 12 members of the committee include Daniel Doctor, Pastor Jovannie Canales, Mayor Michael Sidari, Jacquie Chinn, Lt. Todd Draper, Scott Robinson of the Medina Area Partnership and owner of the Shirt Factory Cafe, Sherry Tuohey, Chief Chad Kenward, David and Cynthia King, District Attorney Joe Cardone and Public Defender Joanne Best

Robinson will provide an overview of the committee and its plans during the meeting on Wednesday.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is requiring all 500 municipalities in the state that have law enforcement agencies to form committees with local elected officials, the police leaders and citizens and study the operations of the departments and determine if reform is needed.

The municipalities must adopt a plan by April 1, 2021 to be eligible for state funding for any part of the municipalities’ budgets. The plans could show that no changes are needed in a police department.

“With more than 500 law enforcement agencies in our large and diverse state, there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution,” Cuomo said in August. “To rebuild the police-community relationship, each local government must convene stakeholders for a fact-based and honest dialogue about the public safety needs of their community. Each community must envision for itself the appropriate role of the police. Policies must be developed to allow the police to do their jobs to protect the public and these policies must meet with the local communities’ acceptance.”

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