Survey: Police reform wanted
Task force report finds low satisfaction in community
The city’s Police Reform Task Force this week released its 97-page survey report, gauging overall satisfaction with city police.
And while slightly more than 53 percent of respondents are satisfied or very satisfied with the job city police do, the survey showed that — for many factions in the community, mainly people of color, members of the LGBTQ community or people between the ages of 19 and 35 — satisfaction with police is less stellar, hovering between 30 and 24 percent.
Furthermore, the survey noted that 51 percent believe that police, in general, do not treat people with equal fairness and respect.
“That’s a very clear signal that there is an issue of how we police,” said John Schroeder, a software developer and a big data consultant who volunteered with the Task Force to create and parse the survey data. “If the survey was just about ‘do police do their job with an equal hand?’ the answer is no.”
Jason Golub, co-chair of the city’s task force, said the survey results were sent to Mayor Meg Kelly on Thursday evening so the report could be distributed to the City Council. On Friday, however, Kelly, Public Safety Commissioner Robin Dalton and Police Chief Shane Crooks were silent on the report in which 1,896 respondents took part.
While Schroeder said that survey answers reflect the national tenor, he did say that he was surprised that 1,449 or 76 per
cent of respondents, answered the survey’s final questions, revealing, sometimes at length, their personal stories with police.
“The level of response we got asking to please elaborate on very personal questions is astounding,” Schroeder said. “Three out of four people. Most surveys, you are lucky to get 10 percent.”
One of the questions was “have you or someone you know experienced physical mistreatment, harassment, or intimidation by a police officer?”
The question didn’t specifically point to Saratoga Springs police, but one third said yes. The question produced 17 pages of comments. When the respondent specifically mentioned Saratoga Springs police, racial profiling was the biggest complaint.
“It was an outpouring of stories that were really powerful,” Schroeder said.
Trying to reflect city
Schroeder said that the survey was widely distributed and completed by a demographic reflective of the city. A total of 90.4 percent of the respondents were white. The city is 91.5 percent white. While 2010 census data shows that women make up 53 percent of the city population, 61.6 percent of survey respondents said they were women. Schroeder said younger residents were underrepresented in the survey.
“The goal of the survey was to put a stake in the ground,” Schroeder said. “To know if we are getting any better, we need to know where we are now. We also want to help SSPD think about what is important, what they should be focused on . ... It’s not the end of the story, it’s the beginning of the story.”
The survey also took stock of the suggested reforms from the task force. A total of 78.7 percent want to require body camera use and release of the footage within 30 days of an incident. Nearly as many respondents wanted
more bias training.
A total of 71.8 percent want strict guidelines on use of force, and 64.4 percent want misconduct investigated and a civilian review board put in place. Ending racial profiling was supported by 59.4 percent. Respondents were also in favor of releasing data on police interactions that require filing a report and restricting the purchase and use of military equipment, which was on full display during the July 30, 2020, Black Lives Matter protest.
The only suggestion that did not receive more than 50 percent support was banning no-knock warrants. That only got 48.8 percent support.
“Even people who have a good experience are aware not everyone is treated equally and are in favor of common-sense reforms,” Schroeder said. “People support these reforms, widely.”
Schroeder said he hopes that the information will be helpful when the City Council adopts reforms, something it is expected to do by April 1 in order to comply with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s executive order on police reform. If they don’t, they risk losing state funding.
“Data drives out opinions,” Schroeder said. “City councils and politicians tend to listen to whoever shouts last loudest . ... But they can’t argue with the data.”
Volunteers on Kauai’s north shore in Hawaii have launched a makeshift ferry service across a river after a landslide along a two-lane highway cut several towns off from the rest of the island.
The boats are taking people across the river to jobs, get medical care and helping deliver taro, the region’s major crop.
Officials hope to reopen at least one lane of the highway for emergency purposes next Tuesday, but the outlook is uncertain.
Multiple landslides three years ago cut off a similar section of the north shore for 14 months. This year, one big landslide hit further down the road, blocking off an even bigger portion of Kauai.
Altogether, residents estimate about 1,000 people live in the towns now isolated, including Hanalei, Haena and Wainiha.
The ferry service runs from a public beach park in Hanalei to private property about 200 feet across the Hanalei River.
Donations are paying for the vessel fuel, and the boats are taking people over as the demand rises.
“The really amazing thing is that we have a very resilient community, and they came in and put in place their plan to address this need.,” said Rep. Nadine Nakamura, who represents the area in the state House.
The smaller boats can take up to about four to five people at a time.
The larger boats are delivering taro, a starchy root vegetable that is a staple of the traditional
Hawaiian diet. Hanalei and the surrounding areas grow 85 percent of the state’s taro crop.
Coming the other direction, the boats have brought workers to open Hanalei’s grocery store and bring eggs, bread and other food.
Hermina Morita, a community leader who was helping gather information about people’s needs, said the landslide compounds challenges for businesses in the area.
“With the April 2018 flood and COVID on top of it and then, now, the
businesses out here are really hurting,” she said.
Tourism is down dramatically across Hawaii because of the coronavirus pandemic, but especially on Kauai, which for many months has imposed tighter restrictions on travel than the rest of the state.
Still, Morita said many food trucks have been generously serving what food they have.
“They’re feeding volunteers in the communities while taking an extremely hard financial hit,” Morita said.
Dave & Buster’s will reopen Monday, at Crossgates Mall in Guilderland, offering indoor dining. Its Million Dollar Midway, with arcade and video games, will reopen Friday, March 26.
Dave & Buster‘s is located in the mall’s Macy’s wing. Face masks will be required, social distancing protocols will be in place, as well as increased cleaning and sanitizing.