Committee Timeframe

Phase 1:  Planning (December 2020)

Create a work plan, including list of issues to address, and identify staff to manage the information gathering and plan development.  Identify stakeholders and local leaders who can work to facilitate conversations with key constituencies in the community.  Assess current policing practices and procedures by gathering information on current operations including but not limited to date, policies and procedures, complaint history, budget, contracts, training and equipment.  Make this information available to the public.

Phase 2:  Listening and Learning (January 2021)

Examine specific areas including (1) accountability and transparency; (2) community engagement; (3) training; (4) qualifications and recruitment; (5) policies and procedures.  Conduct listening sessions with the public.  Organize sessions thematically or focus separately on individual stakeholders.  Consult experts or resources referenced in the Guidance to help consider difficult issues more fully.  Request comments on draft plans from the public before adoption and early in the development of the Program.  Elicit input from people unable to or uncomfortable with joining public meetings and consider asking for written comments or suggestions.  Make survey available to public via social media and website.

Phase 3: Draft a Plan (February 2021)

Identify areas of focus or change after getting feedback and evaluating the role of the police in the community and the current state of the City of Mechanicville Police Department.  In the areas identified as needing reform, identify short-term and long-term measurable goals.  Draft a reform and reinvention plan.  The Committee may choose to solicit suggested language from stakeholders to help facilitate drafting and to see different stakeholders position in writing.  The Committee shall consider articulating not just policy measure success of this plan going forward.  Keep the public engaged in the process.

Phase 4:  Public Comment and Ratification (March 2021)

Executive Order No. 203 requires that the draft plan be posted for public comment.  The Committee shall consider diversifying the ways the public can share feedback, in writing and at events - either in person or virtually.  When releasing the draft plan, educate the public and consider how the Committee and other key stakeholders involved in the development will explain the proposals to the public.  Consider holding events, engaging the media or publishing an op-ed in the local newspaper.  Revise the plan to incorporate public comment.  The Committee should ensure the public comment is addressed in a meaningful way in the final plan and how the Committee will address those comments which are not adopted and those that highlight areas of tension and disagreement among members of the community or between community members and the police.

Finalize the plan after public comment and submit to the City Board to adopt or ratify before the April 1, 2021 deadline.

File certification with the New York State Division of the Budget by April 1, 2021, that the City of Mechanicville has met the requirements of Executive Order No. 203.

After April 1, 2021:

After the plan is adopted, the City shall implement the plan and communicate progress reports and metrics to the public.  The Committee will continue to monitor and respond to community concerns related to the police until the City Board determines that the goals of the plan have been accomplished.