On June 12, 2020 Governor Cuomo issued an executive order requiring municipalities with police departments (eight of DC municipalities and the DC Sheriff's Department) to take measures to reform, reinvent and modernize their police forces. Localities must adopt a plan by April 1, 2021 to continue to be eligible for NY State funding. The Town and the HPPD are working together to accomplish this goal.
Dutchess County has taken the lead on this important effort. Town Supervisor Aileen Rohr, Deputy Supervisor Neil Krupnick, Chief Robert Benson and Lieutenant Paul Caccia have been participating in bi-weekly of the Dutchess County Police Reform & Modernization Collaborative to analyze current policing practices and policies and develop a road map to reform.
Chief Benson and Deputy Supervisor Krupnick participated in County group forums with community stakeholders. On September 23, 2020 Dutchess County hosted a public forum for members of Town of Poughkeepsie and Town of Hyde Park. Information gathered from this forum along with others held throughout the County are being incorporated into the policy changes we will be implementing.
We are eager to continue this dialogue through a community forum scheduled for Tuesday, January 19th at 6:00 pm held via Zoom. You can watch this forum live on the town’s YouTube livestream page:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcb5NmRUM9SwOAL0vwcayrQ/live. In addition, the forum will be archived on the town’s regular YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/user/TownOfHydeParkNY.
If you would like to participate in the forum, you will need to pre-register by 5pm on the day of the meeting. To register, please email the town’s webmaster: webmaster@hydeparkny.us. You can also provide written comments to cmiller@hydeparkny.us, as well as comment live on YouTube during the livestream.
The forum is designed to provide residents an opportunity to be heard and to provide us with insights as we develop our final Police Reform and Reinvention Plan. We thank residents for their input and support as we seek to continue to provide the dedicated and ethical, quality and responsive service to our community with pride and professionalism.